it s one a. m. here in new york, midnight in iowa, and a very first test of the 2024 republican primary season is now complete. joining me now at the top of this hour, former obama campaign manager, msnbc political analyst, and my former boss david plouffe, former rnc chairman and co-host of the weekend, michael steele, former communications director for jeb bush 2016 campaign, and now writer at large for the bulwark tim miller, and former communications director for president obama jennifer palmieri. now, tonight in iowa, nbc news projected that donald trump won the caucuses with more than 50% of the vote. his numbers really cement the four-time indicted candidate status as the front-runner. we already knew this. but in the republican field, the race for second place, it had a bit more drama with nikki haley and florida governor ron desantis locked in a dead heat for most of the night. but as awkward as he may be at times, and he is awkward, desantis did put in the w
( ) the new festive family meal. starting at $24. now celebrating at el pollo loco. york, 11 pm in iowa where tonight caucus goers brave record low temperatures, gathered in gyms, churches, schools across the state and give us the first tangible look at where republican voters stand right now. and tonight, i will republicans delivered a resounding victory to donald trump. nothing usually surprising, there but we ll still talk about what that means. with me at the tables an all-star panel. former obama campaign manager, embassy and my old boss david blough. and the host of the weekend on msnbc, michael steele, simone sanders townsend, and alicia menendez. everybody is working very hard over the past couple of days. nbc news can project that on trump will exceed 50% tonight. we can also project that florida governor ron desantis will finish second, which is a bit surprising coming into tonight. we ll bring you any updated numbers it s in as we get them and stay close with ou
99 counties, despite visiting only 15 of them. florida governor ron desantis came in a distant second, receiving 21% of support in the hawkeye state. 30 points behind trump and just 2 points ahead of former south carolina governor nikki haley. this year s republican caucuses had the lowest turnout since the year 2000, drawing around 108,000 voters. that s about 14% of the state s registered republicans. good morning. welcome to morning joe. it is tuesday, january 16th. how did the results reflect compared to the polls? i think there was a big winner, and i think there was a big loser. the big winner, of course, donald trump. he got over 50% of the vote. the big loser, of course, the republican party, who is strapped with a republican loser, a seven-time loser. the problem for republicans is they started in iowa. this is just a perennial problem for the gop. it really, willie, is a problem that the democrats fixed, but you go back and look. who won in 2008? mike huckabee.
exactly one hour away from the first major test of the 2024 g.o.p. primary season. the iowa caucuses. now, more than 1600 caucuses across 99 counties, you can believe it or not. i have been covering to iowa for years covering these caucuses. this year isn t just the coldest, but also has the most riding on it. i will explain what is really at stake in moments. but, first, we have reporters at the headquarters of all the major candidates. first to trump s right here in des moines where fox news senior national correspondent rich edson is standing by. rich? rich: you know, laura, it s cold it s icy. some of the roads are impassable. they have talked to the weather all day long here. we talked to the candidates how that plays into the campaign. they say look, all the campaigns are dealing with this. one campaign aid said, look, we have the most dedicated campaign base in the history of american politics. we re not worried about our folks showing up. speaking of showing up, for
with a nearly 30-point lead. what does this mean and why does second place finish could be make or break for the others? rachel scott and our team across iowa and rick at the big board. the new storm and the life-threatening cold sweeping across the u.s. 200 million americans under winter weather alerts from montana down to florida, all the way to the northeast. the storm deadly across several states and the storm tonight for the east. washington, d.c. up through philadelphia and new york city. the urgent search for two missing navy s.e.a.l.s lost at sea during a daring mission. 100 days now since the hamas terror attack in israel igniting the larger war. tonight hamas releasing new images, showing three of the hostages still in captivity. there is news tonight on defense secretary lloyd austin. in new york city, the news coming in on the case of accused long island serial killer and what could be a new turn in this case. the deadly hot-air balloon crash. four people ki