DES MOINES, Iowa: Donald Trump won the Iowa caucuses Monday, a crucial victory at the outset of the Republican primary that reinforces the former president’s bond with his party’s voters even as he faces extraordinary legal challenges that could complicate his bid to return to the White House.
The magnitude of Trump’s success is still coming into focus, but the former president’s supporters endured a historic and life-threatening cold snap to participate in caucus meetings that unfolded in schools, churches and community centers across the state.
The results are just the first in what will be a monthslong effort for Trump to secure the GOP nomination a third consecutive time. But they send an unmistakable message to the Republican Party that the nomination is Trump’s to lose and crystalize the challenge facing his GOP opponents.
Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are Trump’s most prominent primary rivals. They are aiming for a second-place finish in Iowa that would give them at least some momentum heading into future races. Both are already pivoting their focus, with Haley poised to compete vigorously in New Hampshire, where she hopes to be more successful with the state’s independent voters heading into the Jan. 23 primary. DeSantis, meanwhile, is heading straight to South Carolina, a conservative stronghold where the Feb. 24 contest could prove pivotal, before then going to New Hampshire.
Iowa is an uneven predictor of who will ultimately lead Republicans into the general election. George W. Bush’s 2000 victory was the last time a Republican candidate won in Iowa and went on to become the party’s standard-bearer.
Trump has spent much of the past year crafting a far more professional organization in Iowa than the relatively haphazard effort he oversaw in 2016, when Texas Sen. Ted Cruz carried the caucuses. His team paid special attention to building a sophisticated digital and data operation to regularly engage with potential supporters and ensure they knew how to participate in the caucuses.
For months, the former president predicated a commanding Iowa victory with a 30- or 40-point blowout that he argued would render the rest of the primary essentially unnecessary. His aides have privately focused on meeting or beating Bob Dole’s nearly 13-point win in 1988, the largest margin of victory ever in a contested Iowa Republican caucus.
The former president campaigned in Iowa sporadically and largely abandoned the state’s tradition of intimate appearances in living rooms and small community venues. He instead relied on larger campaign rallies where he more often listed grievances over the past, most notably his lie that the 2020 election was stolen, rather than articulating a detailed vision of the nation’s future.
The challenges confronting Trump will intensify in the weeks ahead as he balances the demands of a campaign against multiple legal threats. He has said he will return this week to a New York City courtroom where a jury is poised to consider whether he should pay additional damages to a columnist who last year won a $5 million jury award against Trump for sex abuse and defamation. The US Supreme Court is weighing whether states have the ability to block Trump from the ballot for his role in sparking the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol. And he’s facing criminal trials in Washington and Atlanta for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump wins Iowa caucuses in crucial victory at the outset of the Republican presidential campaign
https://arab.news/nprmj
Trump wins Iowa caucuses in crucial victory at the outset of the Republican presidential campaign
- The results are just the first in what will be a monthslong effort for Trump to secure the GOP nomination a third consecutive time
- Trump back on trial for defamation in sexual assault case
Bangladesh takes ‘balanced approach’ with Pakistan as talks of defense deal emerge
- Air force chiefs of Pakistan and Bangladesh discussed potential defense pact last week
- Dhaka says plan to procure fighter jets still in early stages, discussions ongoing with several countries
DHAKA: Bangladesh appears to be moving with caution as Dhaka and Islamabad forge closer ties and explore a potential defense deal, experts said on Friday.
Following decades of acrimonious ties, relations between Bangladesh and Pakistan have been growing since a student-led uprising ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024.
Talks on a potential defense deal covering the sale of Pakistan’s JF-17 fighter jets to Dhaka emerged after Bangladesh’s Air Chief Marshal Hasan Mahmood Khan visit to Rawalpindi last week, where he met with his Pakistani counterpart Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Pakistan’s chief of defense forces.
Bangladesh’s military media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations, said the procurement of fighter jets for the Bangladesh Air Force is “in the very rudimentary level,” and currently “under an evaluation process.”
ISPR Director Lt. Col. Sami Ud Dowla Chowdhury told Arab News: “The evaluation process will determine which country’s offer proves befitting for us. The air chief’s visit to Pakistan is part of the evaluation process … Earlier, he visited China, Italy (too).
“Discussions are underway with different countries. Nothing concrete has come yet.”
Talks between the high-ranking military officials are the latest development in Bangladesh-Pakistan ties, which have included the resumption of direct trade for the first time since the 1971 war and the expected launch of a regular route from Dhaka to Karachi at the end of this month, following over a decade of suspension.
Though efforts to expand relations can be seen from both sides, the current interim government of Bangladesh led by economist and Nobel Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus has been “showing some kind of pragmatism,” said Prof. Delwar Hossain of Dhaka University’s international relations department.
“Bangladesh is stepping very cautiously in comparison with the advancement from the Pakistan side. Bangladesh is trying to make a balanced approach,” he told Arab News.
“The present government is always saying that the development of a relationship with Pakistan doesn’t necessarily mean that Bangladesh is moving towards a particular camp. Rather, Bangladesh is interested in having a balanced relationship with all the great powers.”
Trade and economy are “naturally” more preferable areas of cooperation for Dhaka, Hossain said, adding that “we need more time to determine” how far military cooperation will be expanded.
Ishfaq Ilahi Choudhury, a defense expert and retired air officer of the Bangladesh Air Force, said that Bangladesh is “very much in need of advanced aircraft” because its military has not procured new fighter jets in at least two decades.
“Air frigate fighters are badly needed for the Bangladesh Air Force. We had some F-7 produced by China, but they stopped producing these fighters nowadays. Here, Pakistan can be a source for our fighter jets, but it involves … geopolitics,” he told Arab News, alluding to how Dhaka’s defense ties with Pakistan may be perceived by its archrival neighbor India.
Pakistan’s JF-17 fighter jets, a multi-role combat aircraft jointly developed with China, have drawn international interest following their success last May, when Pakistani and Indian forces engaged in their worst fighting since 1999.
Islamabad said it shot down several Indian fighter jets during the aerial combat, a claim Indian officials later acknowledged after initially denying any losses, but without specifying the number of jets downed.
“Our friendship with Pakistan shouldn’t (come) at the cost of our friendship with India,” Choudhury said.
“With this (potential) defense purchase deal with Pakistan, we have to remain very cautious so that it proves sustainable in the long term.”
