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One New Hampshire result is not in doubt: Donald Trump will win the Republican primary. His closest contender, Bill Weld, is polling in the single digits, even though he was once the governor of New Hampshires neighbor, Massachusetts. So it wasnt as much to campaign as to gloat that Trump held a rally in Manchester on Monday night, before about twelve thousand people. The arena was full; Trump congratulated his supporters in the front rows for waiting four days outside in the rain and snow to get in, and, while that was overstating it, the line had begun to form early Sunday morning and the weather was not good. (The Union Leader noted that some of the first arrivals were people from out of state, who follow Trump from rally to rally.) Trump is so sure of victory that, from the stage, he speculated about his supporters moseying over to the Democratic primary and engaging in a little bit of strategic votingjust to cause trouble.

You have crossovers in primaries, dont you? Trump said, referring to the option that allows voters in New Hampshire who are not registered as Democrats or Republicans to vote in either partys contest. So I hear a lot of Republicans tomorrow will vote for the weakest candidate possible of the Democrats. Does that make sense? You people wouldnt do that! He spread out his arms with a lopsided smile, like a salesman telling customers that people as discerning as they are dont need to hear about a special discount on the premium gold golf-vacation package, but hell mention it anyway. But there was a catch, Trump continued. My only problem is Im trying to figure who is their weakest candidateI think theyre all weak!

Strategic voting is always difficult to measure; the main point for Trump seemed to be the theatre of it all. Still, for another politician, it might have been an area to stay away from, given that Trump was just impeached and tried for actions in Ukraine that were aimed at undermining the campaign of Joe Biden, who, at the time, was the Democratic front-runner. But, then, earlier in the rally, Trump had denounced what he called the outrageous partisan impeachment hoax, and trumpeted his full, complete, and absolute total acquittal. (When he mentioned Mitt Romney, who voted in the Senate trial to convict him on one of the two articles of impeachment, the crowd jeered.) And, with regard to Biden, the math has changed, with his drop in the polls and his poor finish in Iowa. A recanvass has been requested in that state, where the results were delayed and now show a narrow lead for Pete Buttigieg in the delegate countthe traditional measure of an Iowa victorythough more people seem to have aligned with Bernie Sanders in the caucuses. But the mess couldnt conceal the fact that Biden appeared to have finished a distant fourth.

Trump rejoiced in that caucus chaos; he used the rally in Manchester to repeat what is becoming a standard Republican attack: The Democrat Party wants to run your health care, but they cant even run a caucus in Iowa! The caucuses became a punch line for Trump and an instrument for his interaction with the crowd, which is one of the elements of his rallies that draws people to them. Its now a week. Does anybody know who won Iowa? I dont knowhe scanned the audience, as if looking for a courier from Des Moinesbut maybe Rand or Lindsey knew. Senators Rand Paul, of Kentucky, and Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, were both present and visible, and presumably standing by for Iowa-punditry duty, or any other task that Trump set before them. Rand! Does anybody know who won? Lindsey! Youre a total pro. Nobody knows! He said nobody. Flip a coin! Flip a coin!

The cameras caught a row of Republican elected officials standing, nodding, and laughing appreciatively. They included the House Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy, and the congressmen Matt Gaetz, of Florida, and Mike Johnson, of Louisiana, who, as members of the House Judiciary Committee, had vehemently defended Trump in the impeachment hearings. (Last week, Trump, in his post-acquittal remarks, said that Gaetz had a great gene.) Graham and Paul, who were also prominent impeachment defenders, were Great guyswarriors! Theyre warriors! (Paul spent a lot of time trying to get the name of a person widely believed to be the Ukraine whistle-blower in front of the public, including by way of a poster that he set up on the Senate floor during his speech at the close of the trial.) And they and their Republican colleagues were my congressmen and senators. Another regular function of the rallies is to dole out favors and flattery and to establish Trumps dominance over the G.O.P.

But the President cannot resist trying to divide the Democrats and to sow uncertainty about the integrity of the elections more generally. And Iowa gave him an opening. Actually, I think theyre trying to take it away from Bernie again, Trump said, referring to lingering complaints among Sanders supporters about how delegates were apportioned in his narrow loss to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Iowa caucuses, and to their continuing resentment about what they view as the Democratic Partys institutional resistance to him. Theyre doing it to you again, Bernie! Theyre doing it to you again!

The speech also included a dose of Trumpian digressions, including one about the coronavirus: Rough stuff, I tell you. Rough, rough stuff. But I think its going to work out good! He also reprised a signature of his 2016 rallies, by reciting the poem The Snake, meant as a parable of the insidious destruction wrought by migrantsa reminder that, with regard to immigration, in particular, this relection campaign will only get uglier. And there was praise for the border wall, which Trump framed in oddly Luddite terms: With all the modern technology, all of the new computers, the new genius, the new everything, cyber this, cyber that, two things never change, right? A wheel, and a wall. And, he added, its a high wall.

But, throughout, he kept returning to the Democrats. As we keep on winning, Washington Democrats keep on losing their minds. Theyre crazy! Trump said. He had opened the rally with an attack on Nancy Pelosi, who, as Speaker of the House, sat behind him during last weeks State of the Union address, and tore up her copy of the speech when it had ended. Had the crowd watched the State of the Union, he asked? I had somebody behind me who was mumbling terribly. Mumbling. Mumbling! Hoowah, hoowah, ho hah! Some people in the crowd began chanting Lock her up! Lock her up! Trump, appearing to hear them, gave a thumbs-up, and more voices joined in. The chant has become an all-purpose response to women whom Trump doesnt like. As it died down, he added, Im speaking, and a woman is mumbling terribly behind me. Angry. There was a little anger back there. Were the ones who should be angry!

As the speech went on, he reminded his supporters of what should make them angry: immigrants, impeachment, socialism, and Washington. That swamp is a dirty swamp! Trump said, adding, You have some really evil, dirty, horrible people. In contrast, We will defend privacy, free speech, religious liberty, and the right to-o-o... he stretched the word out, prompting the crowd.

Bear arms! they answered.

Trump confirmed that this was the reply he was looking for, and warned the crowd, Theyre going to take away everything. Theyre going to take away your wealth. Theyre going to take away your guns. Theyre going to take away everything. His supporters booed loudly. It seemed that they didnt want the Democrats to take away this moment, or their President.

See the election results from the New Hampshire primary.

The New Hampshire results signal a long nationwide Democratic battle. The Partys candidates will almost certainly have to grind it out until early June, when the final primaries will take place.

This victory here is the beginning of the end for Donald Trump! Bernie Sanders said, at a primary-night party in New Hampshire.

Bernie Sanders won the New Hampshire primary, but his performance was not as impressive as it was in 2016.

In New Hampshire, Sanders and Warren promise bold, fundamental change. But they struggle to conjure a vision of America that aggressively counters Trumps.

After a disappointing fourth-place finish in Iowa, Joe Biden is struggling in New Hampshire.

Read the rest here:
Ahead of the New Hampshire Primary, Trump Tries to Make Trouble for the Democrats - The New Yorker