The Iowa Caucuses are over, and former President Donald Trump has won. The doors closed at 7 PM CST and 8 PM EST, and the race was called less than an hour later because this was never a contest from the start. Donald Trump had more than a commanding lead, and you’d have to be hitting Hunter Biden’s crack pipe to think there would be some seismic upset tonight. Regardless, there was bipartisan whining about the networks, Fox News included, calling the race:
The media calling the caucuses 30 minutes after they start is highly irresponsible
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) January 16, 2024
Wonder if they have a good reason for violating their own policies on this stuff. pic.twitter.com/t9qOGrroNI
— Joe Colangelo (@Itsjoeco) January 16, 2024
The very very early results show Trump winning big, but the early network call is a little questionable. People are still at caucus sites, and they have phones - how many people see the call and bail?
— David Weigel (@daveweigel) January 16, 2024
AP has a policy not to call "the winner of a race before all the polls in a jurisdiction are scheduled to close." Tonight AP/CNN/Etc. called the race after the caucus doors closed, but BEFORE all votes were cast. People could see on their phones that Trump won before voting.
— Michael Scherer (@michaelscherer) January 16, 2024
I’m at a precinct that hasn’t even voted yet, and the media are trying to call the race for Trump.
— Jeremy Redfern (@JeremyRedfernFL) January 16, 2024
Absolutely outrageous that the media would participate in election interference by calling the race before tens of thousands of Iowans even had a chance to vote. The media is in the tank for Trump and this is the most egregious example yet.
— Andrew Romeo (@andrewromeo33) January 16, 2024
I exaggerate, but you don't need to wait if candidate x is leading by a million. This state was always Trump country, with all key demographic groups voting tonight being squarely in Trump’s camp. Iowa had a landslide win written all over for Trump. Would it have been cool if DeSantis could’ve made more inroads, thereby making this a legitimate two-person race? Sure. I could vote for either man. I could support anyone not named Joe Biden in 2024, but that didn’t happen.
Still, some folks are steaming. What else is new?
Spencer has more regarding the reaction from the DeSantis camp.
