From The Washington Times, via RealClearPolitics:
In case you weren’t already aware, the fix is in. Before the first ballot has been cast, the media have already written their headlines for the Iowa caucuses: “Trump underperforms in Iowa.”
According to the Real Clear Politics polling average, former President Donald Trump leads the field with over 52%, ahead of his closest rival by a whopping 36 points. FiveThirtyEight has a similar polling average, putting him at just over 51%, with a lead of 34 points.
That’s a substantial margin, with plenty of room for underperformance. But let’s look at things from a broader historical perspective.
Since 1976, the biggest “landslide” in the Iowa Republican caucuses (excluding elections with a Republican incumbent) came in 1988, when Sen. Bob Dole amassed 37% of the vote and won by 12 points over televangelist Pat Robertson. In many contested elections of that period, Iowa has been decided by 3 points or less, reflecting the intense independence of Iowa caucusgoers.
Iowans pride themselves on making up their own minds, and they take their responsibility as the first state on the election calendar very seriously. They do not just go with the flow and rubber-stamp the national mood.
Mr. Trump is poised to win Iowa, and the victory may be a historic landslide. Even if he severely underperforms his polling lead, he’s still likely to outpace Dole’s record-setting margin. In this case, underperforming should count only if Mr. Trump comes below Dole’s historic 12-point margin ahead of the next closest finisher.
But that’s not the standard to which the media will hold him.
This is what the Left gets for pissing off the American public. As we have said for years, progressives won’t like living under their new rules. And they’ve all but martyred Trump to the point where his landslide is going to eclipse Reagan’s.
And if it turns out I’m wrong about that, it will be because the Left has frauded yet another election just like they did 2020.
Remember: Pinochet did nothing wrong.