Super Tuesday: Trump dominates early votes, moves closer to Biden rematch

Everything keeps coming up trumps for the former and potentially future US president as the race to the White House heats up.

ANALYSIS

Everything keeps coming up trumps for the former and potentially future US president.

This could have been the week that ended Donald Trump’s bid to return to the White House. Instead, he has claimed a series of political and legal victories that all but confirm he will be the Republican candidate to take on Joe Biden this year – and the polls suggest he will win.

Monday was supposed to be the start of a federal trial into Trump’s allegedly criminal effort to overturn his 2020 defeat.

A supporter of former US President and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump makes his feelings clear at the Super Tuesday election night watch party at Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida.

That would have up-ended Super Tuesday, the biggest day on the Republican primary calendar with 15 states voting on the party’s presidential candidate.

But the chances of that trial even starting before November’s election are now whittling away, after the Supreme Court agreed last Wednesday to hear Trump’s claim of immunity, freezing the criminal case until at least June.

That was the former president’s first big win.

His second came on Monday, again courtesy of America’s highest court, which predictably rejected Colorado’s effort to remove him from the ballot for breaching a constitutional ban on insurrectionists holding public office.

It’s been a week of big wins for Donald Trump. Picture: AFP

The saga only served to bolster Trump’s depiction of himself as the victim of a political witch hunt, further motivating his supporters.

And so they came out for him in force again on Super Tuesday, putting him on the precipice of claiming the party’s presumptive nomination.

The stubborn minority of support for Nikki Haley suggests doubts persist among Republicans about the merits of running with Trump for the third election in a row.

He will face a trial in New York over hush money paid to a porn star, which starts on March 25, and while two other criminal cases against him have slowed, at least one could reignite before November.

But Trump’s dominant Super Tuesday performance means his candidacy should be confirmed within a fortnight, giving him almost eight months to go head-to-head with Biden.

And unlike 2020, when Trump never led in the polls, this time he will be starting in front.

Originally published as Super Tuesday: Trump dominates early votes, moves closer to Biden rematch