FORMER President Donald Trump took a step closer to securing his third consecutive nomination for the Republican Party after receiving over 50 percent of the popular vote in the Iowa caucus.
Trump gained 20 delegates, three times more than the next presidential aspirant, governor of Florida Ron DeSantis who had over 20 percent of the popular vote and gained 8 delegates.
Trump addressed his supporters thanked them following his landslide win over his republican rivals.
“I just want to thank you all. This is a very special night. And this is the first because the big night is going to be in November when we take back our country and truly, we do make our country great again thank you very much everybody,” Donald J. Trump, Former U.S. President stated.
He also thanked the state of Iowa on his social media platform, truth social.
Despite facing legal woes, Trump remains to be the frontrunner among other Republican politicians.
Trump claimed a runaway victory, securing 51 percent of the vote, while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis came in a distant second at 21.2 percent.
Despite strong polling earlier in the month, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley lost out to her Florida rival with 19.1 percent.
Following the vote, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who gained 7,7 percent, dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump.
DeSantis, on the other hand, claimed that the media was against him.
Meanwhile, during his address, Trump called for Republicans and Democrats alike to ‘come together and strengthen out the world’ to end the ‘death and destruction’ in Ukraine and Gaza.
The former president of the U.S. also claimed that the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East ‘should have never happened’ and vowed to ‘get them solved very fast
“We want peace through strength. Russia would have never attacked Ukraine, would have never done it. Putin and I get along fine. We get along very well. That’s a good thing, not a bad thing. If the fake news would become real and honest news, 90% of our problems in this country would be solved.”
“I know President Putin very well, I know Zelensky very well, I am going to get them in, we are going to get it solved very quickly. This should have never happened, would have never happened,” Trump added.
Trump, the only US president to face criminal charges -to which he strongly denies – has a huge lead over party rivals in the polls although he has skipped all five Republican debates.
