We’re heading for a Biden-Trump rematch.
Yesterday, primaries and caucuses in 16 states and American Samoa all but confirmed what most of us have long assumed to be true: We’re heading for a Biden-Trump rematch. Here’s more on that — plus some other key takeaways from Super Tuesday.
A Biden-Trump rematch looks inevitable
Though both revealed some vulnerabilities, President Biden and Donald Trump overwhelmingly dominated their primaries. Trump’s GOP nomination isn’t yet a mathematical certainty — the 15 states that voted Tuesday didn’t have enough delegates to ensure that — but it’s pretty much impossible for anyone to challenge him at this point.
“The 2024 nominations may have unknowingly been locked up since November 2020,” Republican strategist Matthew Bartlett said per NBC News. “With a former president and an incumbent president, both parties have dug in and are gearing up for a rematch which looks to be vicious, vindictive and possibly vile.”
Biden performed strongly, typically winning around 80% of the vote in his contests — a mark Trump, who usually loses between 30% and 40% of the vote, rarely hits. In a statement, Biden warned a second Trump term would mean a return to “chaos, division, and darkness.”
Both Trump and Biden reveal their weaknesses
There were familiar weak spots for both Donald Trump and President Biden. The former lost out with college-educated suburbanites who picked Nikki Haley instead, and Biden again faced an “uncommitted” protest vote from progressives. Biden also lost his first contest of 2024 in American Samoa, where entrepreneur Jason Palmer won the Democratic primary.
“You can never expect to beat an incumbent president, but I love the people of American Samoa, and they’ve been so wonderful to me this past month,” Palmer, who’s never visited the territory, told NBC News.
Nikki Haley denies Trump a clean sweep
Though Trump won 14 of his 15 GOP contests, Nikki Haley denied him a clean sweep, claiming victory in Vermont— and highlighting Trump’s vulnerability among independents. Still, the results were so decisively in Trump’s favor that Haley avoided making any public remarks, and watched the returns privately in Charleston, S.C.
Trump was triumphant as the results came in, telling attendees at his election night watch party at Mar-a-Lago: “They call it Super Tuesday for a reason. This is a big one. And they tell me, the pundits and otherwise, that there’s never been one like this.”
Looking ahead to the 2024 campaign
I caught up with Steve Schmidt, who I met when he was running John McCain’s campaign in 2008, to discuss how the 2024 election is shaping up. The subject matter is pretty tense, but Steve still managed to keep things entertaining! Check out our conversation, below.
