Former President Donald Trump basks in primary victory at Mar-a-Lago.
Nikki Haley thinks Republican voters still care about what she has to say.
And President Joe Biden is starting the general election by doing nothing at all — after becoming the first sitting president to lose a primary since Jimmy Carter in 1980.
The general election has begun, folks. It’s going to be a wild ride. And the results of Super Tuesday show how this will all likely play out.
IT’S TRUMP PARTY NOW
Trump dominated the political landscape on Tuesday, winning everywhere except Vermont (pro tip for The Green Mountain State delegates at the RNC: bring sturdy walking shoes and binoculars – because in Milwaukee you’ll be sitting in the nosebleed seats).
“Success will bring unity to our country,” Trump announced from his home base in Florida on Tuesday evening.
At least he has united the Republican Party.
The 45th president carried 14 of 15 contests, collected a total of 995 delegates since the Iowa caucuses and put himself on a glide path to cross the delegate threshold to clinch the Republican nomination as early as next week.
No doubt Tuesday night’s performance strengthened his position, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t red warning signs for the leader.
The main weakness for Trump continues to be in counties with high concentrations of college-educated voters. In college towns and urban areas in Super Tuesday states, Republican voters chose Haley.
“Success will bring unity to our country,” Trump announced from his home base in Florida on Tuesday evening. At least he has united the Republican Party.
A third of Republican primary voters in Virginia, a quarter in North Carolina and four in ten in Massachusetts do not support Trump. And there are indications that this will never be the case.
Either way, Haley had no path to primary victory after Tuesday night — and on Wednesday morning, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador delivered her concession speech from her home state (where she was defeated by Trump last month).
However, Haley did not support Trump in her comments.
My answer…does it really matter?
After Trump called her a “bird brain” and Haley said The Donald was “not qualified to be president,” would anyone even be affected by an endorsement?
THE ‘HALEY HOLDOUT’ MYTH
Much breath is being wasted on what Trump plans to do to win back Haley voters in November.
But polls and exit poll surveys at key voting locations tell us that a large share of these voters are Democrats, left-leaning independents and “Never Trump” Republicans who voted for Biden in 2020.
In the Commonwealth of Virginia, 10 percent of Republican voters identified themselves as Democrats.
Surprise, surprise… they voted overwhelmingly for Haley.
In the Commonwealth of Virginia, 10 percent of Republican voters identified themselves as Democrats. Surprise, surprise… they voted overwhelmingly for Haley.
An exit poll in Virginia showed Haley Biden voters giving an approval rating of almost 50 percent!
There are no Republicans. These are not 2020 Trump voters who switched to Haley in 2024.
These are voters who are simply looking for a candidate other than Trump, and have been for quite some time. Haley is the current vessel for that group.
Trump won’t win most of them back and maybe he doesn’t have to…
THE NEW MULTI-RACIAL GOP
The American political landscape is changing rapidly – and it’s playing into Trump’s hands.
The Republican Party is turning into a working-class party, as college-educated suburban voters flee to Democrats and non-college-educated Americans hop on the culturally conservative Trump bandwagon.
In a New York Times/Siena poll, Trump won with Hispanic voters and attracted nearly a quarter of African-American voters. This new Republican coalition is multiracial.
There should be panic at Democratic Party headquarters.
For years, Democrats claimed the moral high ground in the fight for the middle class, for ordinary workers and for the “common man” who was being crushed by special interests and evil corporations.
But Democrats are increasingly losing the backbone of the American working class, and this dynamic is changing the framework that political pundits have used for decades to analyze this election.
An exit poll in Virginia showed Haley Biden voters giving an approval rating of almost 50 percent! There are no Republicans.
Working-class Americans are not awake yet. They are not particularly progressive. And they don’t want to be “taken care of” if they just shut up and accept some progressive cultural hell told in a language they don’t even recognize.
They also widely believe that Biden created the inflation crisis that has left them living in fear and misery for three years.
If that doesn’t mean Biden aides popping Prozacs in the White House, maybe this will…
WHO WON THE DEMOCRATIC PRE-SALE IN AMERICAN SAMOA?
Entrepreneur Jason Palmer defeated President Joe Biden to win the Democratic primaries in American Samoa.
I’ve never heard of him either. The race was of no importance. But as a symbol it is significant.
President Joe Biden now joins Jimmy Carter as the only sitting presidents in modern history to lose a primary. It’s bad company. (Sorry, Jimmy.)
The Democratic Party has stunningly failed to come to grips with the reality that Biden will not be at the box office at the Democratic National Convention.
To paraphrase Hillary Clinton: Yes, Joe is old, but he is all the Democrats have. Ra, ra!
In fact, Biden’s approval ratings are at historic lows and his party is still not very enthusiastic about his candidacy.
Most damning of all, polls show that most Americans think his policies have hurt them personally, not helped them.
President Joe Biden now joins Jimmy Carter as the only sitting presidents in modern history to lose a primary. It’s bad company. (Sorry, Jimmy.)
Entrepreneur Jason Palmer (above) defeated President Joe Biden to win the Democratic primaries in American Samoa. I’ve never heard of him either.
Even in California, a predominantly liberal state, voters were lukewarm at best about Biden’s performance on Tuesday night.
His job approval was roughly 50-50, a low score in a fundamentally Democratic stronghold. And the top issues in this predominantly left-wing electorate were the cost of living (36 percent), immigration (17 percent) and crime (15 percent).
Further down the list? Climate change, the state of American democracy and abortion.
Democrats believe they will address these issues in November. It’s a problem that their constituents have other concerns.
There’s no denying that the so-called “Super Tuesday” was more of a “Super Snooze Day.”
The results were largely expected: Trump stormed over Haley, Biden faced minor discontent ahead of Thursday night’s State of the Union address, and new evidence of a rapidly changing Republican Party was revealed as the two sides were heading for a rematch.
But these issues will dominate the general election.
Right now, Trump appears to be riding a rising tide of political revolution and Biden is at risk of being crushed by the rising wave.