US primaries as good as 'over', Trump voters crow

After Donald Trump's blowout victory in Iowa, the US Republican primary might as well be over -- at least according to his supporters in the northeastern state of New Hampshire, which votes next week.

"I expect a landslide," says Loribeth Calderwood, one of the hundreds braving the snow and the cold to make their way to a Tuesday night rally in the small town of Atkinson.

"And if he doesn't (win), I think it's because they stole the election again," the 45-year-old waitress told AFP, covered head-to-toe in a blanket to keep warm.

Edward X. Young, 64, was even more blunt in his assessment: "It's over, they should just stop the primary. He's the Republican candidate... come on."

The winter weather wasn't enough to keep supporters home as Trump made his way to the state -- following a pit stop in New York for a civil defamation trial.

Just a day after the former president's sweep in the Iowa caucuses, they were ready, they told AFP, for a second Trump term -- already envisioning closed borders and lower inflation.

"What I remember about January 6 is that gasoline" was cheaper, said Paul Laskowski, 68, referencing the 2021 Capitol riots by Trump's supporters. 

"And you know what, I want that back," the retiree added.

In some ways, the primary race already seems to be losing steam. After Trump trounced them in Iowa on Monday, challengers Vivek Ramaswamy and Asa Hutchinson suspended their campaigns.

New Hampshire's vote, held in a state considered more centrist than Iowa, is eagerly awaited by political experts warning it's too early to consider Trump a foregone conclusion for the Republican nomination. 

And Trump rivals Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley -- both viewed as having a more serious shot of beating Trump than Hutchinson or Ramaswamy -- have pressed on.

But the Republican debate scheduled ahead of New Hampshire's January 23 primary was canceled, after Haley said she would only attend if Trump would. Trump, meanwhile, has skipped the debates thus far, and had no intention of changing tack.

His strategy has paid off: in Iowa, Trump took 51 percent of the vote, while also spending less money and time in the midwestern state than his rivals.

'Shut the border'

Not that the win has halted Trump's legal troubles -- including four criminal indictments, as well as decisions in Colorado and Maine that he shouldn't be eligible to appear on primary ballots there, accused of taking part in an insurrection via his role in the Capitol riots.

"If Trump is so bad, why don't we just put him on the ballot? Let people decide," countered Laskowski. "That's what true democracy is all about."

"Donald Trump, he knows what he's got to do: shut the border," added James Legros.

The 61-year-old has voted twice in his life previously -- for Trump, in 2016 and 2020. 

"And I will not vote for anybody else. Because I don't trust anybody," he told AFP.

In nearby Derry, where signs reading "Trump 2024 Make America Great Again" are plentiful along the road, Vern Aylward yearns for earlier times, when things "seemed more normal."

He was referencing Trump's first term, from 2017 to 2021.

"I think he proved himself, when he was president, that he was capable... Our prices, the gas, price of food, it just seemed like everything was going swimmingly," the 64-year-old plumber says.

Inflation, while trending downward, is still a major issue for many Americans -- with plenty of Trump voters worried about the economy under President Joe Biden, no matter recent positive indicators are reported from the Federal Reserve.

Trump "may not have been as eloquent as we had hoped," Aylward admits. "But you know, I need a president to lead the country, not be a superstar."