TRUMP INCHES FORWARD TO NOMINATION
President Donald Trump handily defeated former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley in the New Hampshire primary last night.
While some earlier projections showed Haley potentially neck and neck with the former president in the Granite State, those projections fell apart recently when polls showed that Trump held a clear and compelling lead.
His double-digit margin of victory, though a few points below the most optimistic polls—which showed him receiving as much as 18 percent support—nevertheless cemented his claim to frontrunner status.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump takes the stage with supporters, campaign staff and family members for a primary night party at the Sheraton on January 23, 2024 in Nashua, New Hampshire. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
With 91 percent reporting, Trump won New Hampshire with 54.9 percent support, finishing over 11 points ahead of Haley—a tough blow for the former South Carolina governor, who’s devoted much of her campaign for the past year to flipping New Hampshire from Trump.
It’s another historic win for Trump, who’s now become the first non-incumbent to win both the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire primary back-to-back since the 1970s.
Despite her defeat, Haley said the race “is far from over.”
“There are still dozens of states,” she said in Concord shortly after the race was called for Trump.
Trump, in his victory speech, took aim at Haley for “doing like a speech like she won.”
“Let’s not have somebody take a victory when she had a very bad night. She had a very bad night,” he said in Nashua.
“She did very poorly, actually. She had to win. [New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu] said, ‘She’s gonna win, she’s gonna win, she’s gonna win.”
Following Trump’s win, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said, while emphasizing she wasn’t speaking for the RNC, “Donald Trump is going to be the nominee,” and called on Haley to “reflect” on what, if any, path she has moving forward.
Meanwhile, in the Democratic primary, President Joe Biden, who did not appear on the ballot, saved face thanks to a write-in campaign in a contest that was declared “meaningless” by the Democratic National Committee. The unsanctioned primary does not award any delegates.
Nevertheless, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.)—who pitches himself as a younger alternative to the president who can defeat Trump in a general election—made a respectable showing, receiving almost 20 percent of the vote.
Self-help author Marianne Williamson received around 5 percent of the vote.
With Trump’s victory—and with Biden lacking a serious challenger for the Democratic nomination—the likely nominees for both parties have emerged at a historically early date, potentially creating the longest general election in American history.
Now that New Hampshire is over, Trump is preparing for another record-breaking win in Nevada caucus, where he’s virtually running unopposed due to a squabble between the state and the Nevada Republican Party over election rules. Haley, meanwhile, is participating in the state’s primary, which won’t award any delegates.
Later, both parties will hold primaries in South Carolina, where Trump and Biden appear poised to emerge victorious from their parties’ contests.
—Joseph Lord
TEXAS’ BORDER RAZOR
Texas is moving ahead with plans to install razor wire along the border despite a Supreme Court ruling authorizing Border Patrol to cut the wire.
Frustrated by President Joe Biden’s handling of the situation at the border, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has undertaken his own efforts to staunch the flow of illegal immigrants into his state, which shares roughly 1,200 miles of border with Mexico.
Specifically, he’s authorized the Texas National Guard to put up razor wire at hotspots where the most illegal border crossers enter.
The Biden administration has said that this move makes it harder for Border Patrol agents to do their jobs and assist illegal crossers in need of help.
Texas has shot back that the absence of preventative measures encourages dangerous illegal crossings.
In a one-page temporary decision that divided the Supreme Court 5–4, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that Border Patrol could legally remove the razor wire. Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Samuel Alito opposed the decision, which represented a temporary win for the Biden administration.
However, litigation over the issue is ongoing.
In the meantime, Texas officials have defended the emergency action, criticizing the decision to allow the razor wire to be removed—and are even moving ahead with previously scheduled installations of new razor wire.
“We have to do something,” Staff Sergeant Rene Cordova of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) told reporters at a Jan 23 press conference. He said that once word gets out that Border Patrol is cutting the razor wire, illegal immigrants will come back, and, “It won’t take them long to figure it out.”
If illegal immigrants do get through areas being patrolled by the Texas National Guard, the Texas DPS will charge them for trespassing, with the exception of families with children, which they will turn over directly to Border Patrol.
“We’re trying to prevent [illegal border crossings], but we can’t be everywhere. Do you think they want to solve this problem? There’s too much money,” Cordova said. “Cartels are making more money off migrants than drugs.”
The barriers being put in place were already planned prior to the court’s decision, and those plans will go forward.
For instance, the Texas National Guard is currently controlling access to Shelby Park, by order of the governor. Border Patrol doesn’t have access to the park right now, but that hasn’t stopped federal agents from doing river patrols and rescues where needed.
“This case is ongoing, and Governor Abbott will continue fighting to defend Texas’ property and its constitutional authority to secure the border,” Andrew Mahaleris, spokesperson for Abbott, told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.
“The Biden administration has repeatedly cut wire that Texas installed to stop illegal crossings, opening the floodgates to illegal immigrants,” he added, reiterating Abbott’s position.
“The absence of razor wire and other deterrence strategies encourages migrants to make unsafe and illegal crossings between ports of entry, while making the job of Texas National Guard soldiers and DPS troopers more dangerous and difficult.”
The ongoing clash between state and federal officials has involved the Supreme Court, which handed down a ruling on Jan. 22 vacating an earlier ruling issued in mid-December 2023 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton spoke out about the ruling after it was handed down, saying in a Jan. 22 post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the Court’s temporary ruling “allows Biden to continue his illegal effort to aid the foreign invasion of America.”
“The destruction of Texas’ border barriers will not help enforce the law or keep American citizens safe,” he said. “This fight is not over, and I look forward to defending our state’s sovereignty.”
The Biden administration argued before the nation’s High Court that the barriers prevented agents from reaching the illegal immigrants who had already entered the United States.
Texas’ attorneys argued that because federal agents allegedly haven’t been able to security the border, Mr. Abbott’s administration was forced to set up the razor wire fencing as part of Operation Lone Star, a plan to mitigate illegal immigration into the border state.
Though the Court was divided over the decision, it gave no explanation for it. Still, Texas officials are hopeful that the Court will eventually side with them later this year.
—Joseph Lord, Savannah Pointer, Charlotte Cuthbertson, and Darlene Sanchez
UNCONVENTIONAL WARFARE IN SOUTH KOREA
Through a decades-long infiltration campaign, the Chinese Communist Party has penetrated into South Korean society.
Chinese agents become trusted associates for top Korean politicians, including the president, to make the political environment China-friendly.
The result? Many South Korean politicians now speak in China’s favor. Cities in South Korea made hundreds of sister city or friendship city agreements with China. A city mayor insisted on building a memorial park for a Chinese composer, who wrote both the Chinese and North Korean military anthems.
Former Korean President Moon Jae-in had described China as a “high mountain peak” and his own a “small country.” His predecessor Park Geun-hye went atop the Tiananmen Tower to watch the massive World War II parade.
“Economy, culture, universities, there is no place that hasn’t been penetrated,” a former counter-espionage official told The Epoch Times.
But that friendship has come back to bite: state-affiliated theaters would back away from contracts with a U.S. company under the threat from China’s embassy.
If they can target one company, they can use the same strategy to target anyone, some have said.
Will things change with a new president who is pro-America?
For now, that’s still an open question.
—Eva Fu
WHAT’S HAPPENING
- Biden will deliver a campaign speech at the United Auto Workers’ political convention in Washington.
- New York Mayor Eric Adams delivers his annual State of the City address.
- Haley campaigns in South Carolina, a day after placing second in New Hampshire.
Davos elites are worried after Trump’s record-shattering victory in Iowa that he could win and pose a threat to their global order, The Epoch Times’ Emel Akan reports. Observers say that discussions about the anti-globalist candidate dominated during the annual summit in Switzerland.
An appeals court denied a new hearing about a gag order issued against Trump, The Epoch Times’ Catherine Yang reported. Prosecutors argued against Trump’s petition for a rehearing, stating it was ‘unwarranted’ because he did not show that the court erred in issuing the order.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows appealed a Maine Superior Court’s order on Jan. 23 that prevents her from disqualifying Trump from the ballot until the Supreme Court weighs in. If she’s not allowed to adjudicate her claims that Trump is ineligible by the date of the primary, The Epoch Times’ Catherine Yang reported, some voters may cast their ballots for him in the primary without knowing if their votes “will count.”
Democrats are considering a deal with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to get the Senate’s Ukraine–border deal through the House, Politico reports. Some Democrats are floating the idea of protecting Johnson from a motion to vacate in exchange for bringing the bill to the floor.
