1/21/24

By Aditi Jha

Presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped out of the race and endorsed former President Trump in a video posted on X (formerly known as Twitter), a decision made after his disappointing performance in the Iowa caucus. “If there was anything I could do to produce a favorable outcome, more campaign stops, more interviews, I would do it," DeSantis said, "but I can’t ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don’t have a clear path to victory. Accordingly, I am today suspending my campaign.” Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is now the only alternative to Trump in the race for Republican nominee. DeSantis described her candidacy as a "repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism" and said that "Trump is superior to the current incumbent Joe Biden ... He has my endorsement. That is clear." At the start of the Republican primary, DeSantis was largely viewed as Trump's main opponent, but now it's very likely that Trump will be the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election, his third consecutive GOP nomination. The New Hampshire primary will be in two days, and though Haley has 58 percent support among independents and 71 percent support from moderates, those demographics are a minority in New Hampshire. 50 percent of New Hampshire Republican voters support Trump compared to Haley's 39 percent. 6 percent supported DeSantis, so that could go either way. Haley's main criticisms of Trump are his 91 criminal charges, age, and friendships with the dictators of North Korea and China. Trump has questioned Haley's eligibility to be president due to her South Asian heritage, telling Fox News that "Nikki" is "a little bit of a takeoff on her name ... wherever she may come from." He misspelled her birth name Nimarata as "Nimrada" and "Nimbra" on media platform Truth Social and reposted a story that claimed Haley couldn't be president because "her parents were not US citizens at the time of her birth." This has happened before; Trump also falsely questioned former President Barack Obama's citizenship in the 2012 presidential election, claiming he was born in Kenya, and vice president Kamala Harris' citizenship in 2020. Hours after DeSantis announced the end of his campaign, Trump said, "I'd like to take time to congratulate Ron DeSantis and ... his wife Casey, for having run a great campaign for president. He did, he ran a really good campaign. He was very gracious and he endorsed me, so I appreciated that ... I look forward to working with Ron and everybody else to defeat Crooked Joe Biden." Biden won't be on the ballot in New Hampshire because the Democratic National Committee established new rules that the New Hampshire primary violates. New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan says that the rules were "a terrible decision" so though Biden didn't file to be a candidate in the state, his allies have attempted to start a write-in effort for him. 

That's the news for today! Stay safe!