Where We Go From Here

To the surprise of nobody, Donald Trump won the Iowa Caucus with 51% of the vote, 30 points ahead of Gov. Ron DeSantis. Vivek Ramaswamy dropped out right after he got fourth place at 7.7%, leaving us with three Republican candidates.

Of course, there isn't really much to expect for DeSantis and Nikki Haley, since Trump is essentially the incumbent with too many people angry at his 2020 loss that was likely stolen.

So where do we go from here?

If DeSantis doesn't win New Hampshire, or at least come close enough to a victory to justify continuing his campaign, he should probably drop out. Otherwise, he will face continued mockery for trying to scale Trump's popularity wall.

If he drops out soon, DeSantis should reiterate during his announcement that what the Democrats are doing to Trump is profoundly wrong and is exactly why Republicans are rallying behind him.

DeSantis does not have to ask for Trump's forgiveness (after all, the guy just changed positions on Vivek Ramaswamy in under 24 hours) or retract all his criticism of him. But he could say that because support for Trump ultimately extends beyond who Trump is, he will support him on principle (and he should quietly disavow or fire all his online influencers, whom many have said were detrimental to his current run).

More importantly, DeSantis should say that, during his remaining term as governor of Florida, he will work to ensure elections are free, fair, and secure from fraud. He can encourage Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and all the other officials who endorsed Trump to do the same.

DeSantis can then rebuild his profile and reputation by passing more conservative policies in Florida during the interim, which will allow him to be much better equipped in 2028.

So how do we make sure we get to a 2028 election?

Trump and his campaign need to seriously consider the fact that plenty of the country still hates his guts with a burning passion and will crawl over a mile of broken glass to vote against him. Outrage at the Democrats' attempts to keep him out of the White House and the resulting zeal from his supporters can only get him so far.

Sure, Biden's approval ratings are in the toilet and people are feeling the pain of his economic policy, but some people will willfully ignore that things were better under Trump than they are now, and no amount of messaging will reach them.

But as Stalin once said, "It's not who votes that counts, it's who counts the votes." So perhaps rather than advertising, Trump's war chest could go toward get-out-the-vote drives and campaigns to fight voter fraud, much like what people have said the other candidates' funds could have gone toward. (And if it's legal, they should use their remaining campaign funds for that.)

When you combine DeSantis's encouragement to fight for clean elections and Trump's funding of those battles, no amount of election interference short of straight-up assassinating Trump and possibly others will overcome an America determined to see itself survive another day.

Of course, this is assuming Trump doesn't end up picking DeSantis as his Vice President running mate, which would be just as good.