1. Primaries: (noun) Preliminary elections to select candidates for a political office.

2. Cement: (verb) To make certain or confirm, often used in the context of solidifying a position or outcome.

3. Suspending: (verb) Temporarily discontinuing or putting on hold.

4. Implosion: (noun) A sudden and dramatic collapse or failure, often used metaphorically.

5. Hype: (noun) Exaggerated publicity or promotion, creating excitement or interest.

6. Wave: (noun) A surge or increase, often used to describe a sudden rise in popularity or support.

7. Crisscrossing: (verb) Moving back and forth or traveling extensively in different directions.

8. Dilemma: (noun) A difficult choice between two equally undesirable options.

9. Aggressively: (adverb) In a forceful or assertive manner.

10. Coalescing: (verb) Coming together to form a whole or a larger group.

11. Litany: (noun) A lengthy and repetitive list or series, often used to describe a set of charges or accusations.

12. Defamation: (noun) The action of damaging the good reputation of someone; slander or libel.

13. Inevitability: (noun) The certainty of something happening, unavoidable.

14. Seize: (verb) To take hold of or grab suddenly, often used in the context of an opportunity or moment.

15. Lapping up: (verb phrase) To eagerly accept or enjoy, often used to describe enthusiastic reception.

16. Dwindle: (verb) To diminish gradually in size, amount, or strength.

17. Alumni: (noun) Plural of alumnus, referring to former members or graduates of a particular school, college, or university.

18. Influence: (noun) The capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something.

19. Chilling: (adjective) Causing an unpleasant feeling of fear or unease.

20. Intermission: (noun) A pause or break, often used to describe a temporary cessation of an activity or performance.

This is the Guardian today. Does the departure of Ron DeSantis from the republican primaries help Nikki Haley, or does it cement the contest for Donald Trump? Accordingly, I am today suspending my campaign. And then there were two. It’s clear to me that a majority of republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance. Ron DeSantis’presidential run started last May with a wave of hype and millions of dollars in fundraising. But for the Florida governor, it ended on Sunday in an acknowledgement of what had become obvious to everyone watching on. DeSantis was on track to lose badly in tonight’s republican primary in New Hampshire, and he had no chance of beating the overwhelming favorite. You know, oh, thank you very much, New Hampshire. This is a great honor to be with you tonight. And so ahead of tonight’s vote, that leaves just one person who can stop Donald Trump cruising to the republican nomination. The last woman standing. It’s going to be me. 70% of Americans don’t want to see a Trump Biden rematch. But even look at former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley. Thousand people. I’m used to people underestimating me. It’s always fun. But there were 14 people in this race and now there are two. So what is her pitch to voters? Does she stand any chance at all? And will voters in New Hampshire, a state that prides itself on its independence, make this race a contest after all? From the Guardian, I’m Michael Sarfi. Today in focus, can any Republican still beat Donald Trump? David Smith, you’re the Guardian’s Washington, DC bureau chief, and you’ve been up most of the night reporting from rallies in New Hampshire and speaking to people who are planning to vote in this evening’s contest. Where were you when you found out that Ron DeSantis had dropped out of the race? I was on my way to a supposed Ron DeSantis campaign stop, a meet and greet in a downtown restaurant in Manchester, New Hampshire. And before I could get there and many reporters get there, this news broke on ex, formerly Twitter, a video in which Ron DeSantis announced he was dropping out and endorsing Donald Trump. If there was anything I could do to produce a favorable outcome, more campaign stops, more interviews, I would do it. But I can’t ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don’t have a clear path to victory. How surprised were you with the fact that he didn’t even make it to this first primary in New Hampshire? If you’d have asked me that question six months ago, I would have been astonished. Ron DeSantis had been billed as the coming man in the Republican Party. Really their best opportunity to turn the page on Trump. But if you’d have asked me 6 hours or six days ago, a bit less surprised after he flamed out in the Iowa caucuses, Trump finished the republican caucuses with a historic 51% of the vote. You’re looking at right here significantly more than Ron DeSantis and Nikki’s Haley’s second and third place totals combined. DeSantis coming in at 21.2%. It was really a spectacular implosion of a campaign. If you look just how much money he spent, it was incredibly unprofitable. About $1,500 per vote. I think he came in a distant second in Iowa by 30 percentage points. From that moment on, we knew he was a dead man walking in this campaign. Really? Where did it all go wrong? From six months ago, when he looked like such a hot prospect, to Sunday when he decided he was done, he was ultimately offering what people have know Trump. Light or diet Trump. And people still want the real thing. They want the authentic version of Trump rather than the imitator. Why go and watch the Beatles tribute band if the beatles are still around? He actually ran to the right of Donald Trump on some issues, if that’s possible, for example, abortion. And DeSantis’s timing was off in that regard because he pitched himself as a cultural warrior waging a war on woke. But there’s evidence some of those issues are fading. They really grow out of the coronavirus pandemic. And DeSantis talked a lot about how he had kept Florida open while Trump’s federal government was closing down schools and imposing mask mandates and vaccine mandates. To be honest, by the time Ira New Hampshire came around, those issues had faded in a lot of people’s memories. We’re not wearing masks anymore. People want to move on. But there was lots of other mistakes along the way. He was, as predicted, a weak campaigner, not brilliant in the debates. Although he got better. He probably left it too late to launch his campaign in May. And then he chose the wrong forum. He went on Twitter spaces for a chat with its owner, Elon Musk. Oh, I remember that. And the feed broke. It didn’t even work. All right, sorry about that. We’ve got so many people here that I think we are kind of melting the servers. That’s right. Lots of technical glitches. It was all a bit of a disaster and really a metaphor waiting to be written. Are you there? Can you hear us? I think you’re here? What’s next for him now? Do you think there have been deals done here? Is there going to be a future vice president DeSantis or a secretary of state? I mean, where does he go from here? DeSantis said after his defeat in Iowa that he had talked to some Trump supporters who promised him they’re going to vote for him in 2028. And he’s probably not the first politician to do this. I think he was immediately planning ahead. He’s only 45 years old. He’s already turning his attention to 2028. That helps explain the timing of why he dropped out of the race. Now it gives Trump a free run at New Hampshire. Whether it results in some kind of cabinet position, hard to say. I suspect probably not. It’s been pretty bitter between them. But I think his hope now will be that MAGA world, the Trump base, will support him for president in 28, or perhaps 2032. Let’s talk about this evening’s contest, the New Hampshire primary. DeSantis’departure leaves one serious candidate to challenge Donald Trump. Tell me about her. Tell me about Nikki Haley. Nikki Haley is the former governor of South Carolina, also former member of the Trump administration. She was US ambassador to the UN. And whatever happens now, I think pundits will say she did very well to get this far. Trump has knocked out every other challenger, and by the way, they’re all folding and falling into line and endorsing him. Haley has impressed many people with her campaign, crisscrossing every state, working very hard. She certainly had her missteps and gaffes, notably when someone asked her what was the cause of the American Civil War? And she failed to mention slavery. Campaigning in New Hampshire Wednesday, Nikki Haley stumbled into a controversy when she was asked about the cause of the civil war. Well, don’t come with an easy question or anything. I mean, I think the cause of the civil war was basically how government was going to run the freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do. The questioner followed up, expressing surprise that she didn’t mention slavery. What do you want me to say about slavery? She’s also surprised people by claiming that America was never a racist country. And yet, a few days later, talking about her own personal experiences of racism, given that she is a woman of color, her parents were indian immigrants. That has created an opening for yet another very nasty turn in this campaign, where Trump has been using Haley’s birth name, which is of indian origin, instead of Nikki, which is what she’s used all her life. And he’s also raised false conspiracy theories that because her parents were not us citizens at the time, she’s not eligible to run for president, which is not true, but it certainly echoes his Bertha attacks on Barack Obama. Okay, but I think Haley has done the best of all the candidates in walking that tightrope that everyone else has tumbled off, by which I mean appealing to some of the Trump supporters, you know, not entirely alienating them. You know, some of the things she says sound pretty extreme, certainly by republican standards, in 2010, 2000, and of, if you like. But in other ways, she’s more traditional, particularly on foreign policy. For example, she’s a staunch supporter of us aid for Ukraine that goes down badly with the Trump America first people. And on abortion, which is such a problematic issue for Republicans, she is not one of those who’s called for a national abortion ban. She’s not gone as far as DeSantis’s six week abortion ban in Florida. She’s saying, look, we have to find consensus on this issue. Some states will agree with me and be pro life. Others will take a different view. Let’s be realistic. In the US Senate, you’re never going to get 60 votes for a radical measure anyway. And on that and other issues, she’s trying to steer a little more of a middle course. So if DeSantis’s version of this was Trump light, Haley’s more like republican classic. How much of a fight has Nikki Haley been putting up in these last few days and hours before voters in New Hampshire go to the polls tonight, all these republican candidates have had that dilemma. Do we go after Trump aggressively or do we try to ignore him? And candidates who’ve done it aggressively, like Chris Christie and Aza Hutchinson, have come a cropper and flamed out at 2% 1%. Nikki Haley, for a long time, treated Trump with kid gloves, said he was the right choice in 2016. But certainly in recent days, you have seen Haley become more aggressive and going after Trump. Chaos follows him. You know I’m right. Chaos follows him. And we can’t have. We can’t have a country in disarray, in a world on fire and go through four more years of chaos. We won’t survive it. And now she’s begun questioning his mental fitness for the job. In particular, there was an incident at a recent rally where Trump infused Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi and said Nikki Haley had failed to defend the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, when the insurrection happened. She’d failed to marshal the police and so on, and repeated Haley’s name several times when he meant Pelosi. And so, certainly Haley and her campaign have seized on this. And he blamed me for not allowing security at the Capitol for January 6. I wasn’t anywhere near Nancy Pelosi. No, but look, at how many times he said it, then he’s gone. Is that an old age? And then he’s gone and said that he defeated Barack Obama. I’m not saying that this is a Joe Biden situation. When you put that together with Trump’s racist attacks against Haley, now it’s a two person fight. It’s getting more bitter and more personal. So how likely is it that she emerges from New Hampshire tonight as the winner? And if she does, how significant would that be? I would be very surprised if Nikki Haley wins in New Hampshire. A few days and weeks ago, there were opinion polls showing her running Trump very close. Some were even level. I’ve been consistent from the very beginning. What I said is, I want to be strong in Iowa, I want to be even stronger in New Hampshire, and then I want to be stronger. Strong in New Hampshire doesn’t mean necessarily winning, it just being a strong second. We won’t know until the numbers come. In the last few days, as the Trump campaign has turned its attention to New Hampshire, the polls are showing him with double digit leads. And I have to say, just the feeling on the ground here when you go to campaign events and rallies and so on, is Trump has some momentum and is probably going to win. There was a Trump rally in a sports arena on Saturday. It was a very cold day, but the arena was full. It was a real show of strength. Thank you very much, New Hampshire. This is a great honor to be with you tonight. We’ve got plenty of time. Trump goaded Nikki Haley by bringing on stage a whole bunch of officials, including the governor of South Carolina, which is her home state, and where this election moves on soon. And just when you look at how the Republican Party is now coalescing around him, senators, representatives, governors, really does seem to be Donald Trump’s race to lose. Given that he is completely dominating this nomination process, are we beginning to see Trump looking ahead to that bigger contest with Joe Biden in November? Is he starting to reshape his campaign towards a more general election? Yes, I think that’s been happening for some time now. At the campaign rallies, Trump has certainly had some digs at his republican rivals. But even on Saturday in Manchester, New Hampshire, when Ron DeSantis was still in the race, Trump himself noted, I haven’t even talked about Ron DeSantimonius tonight. And it was all rather really the focus of a lot of his rallies, campaign material, others, is aimed at Joe Biden. He wants to create that sense of inevitability, that the primary is effectively over. So he’s talking a lot about Biden’s border policy, about how the economy is not as strong as it used to be under Trump. Really running through a lot of issues that have that national head to head focus with Joe Biden. As well as appearing on the campaign trail, Donald Trump is also appearing in courtrooms. He’s facing this very serious litany of charges, sexual abuse, defamation, allegedly paying off Stormy Daniels, an adult film star, holding onto classified documents, interfering in elections, et cetera, et cetera. How are those cases playing into his campaign? All the two have really merged and become virtually indistinguishable. And that’s a deliberate strategy on Trump’s part. I think last week he had victory in Iowa through a party there with beer and popcorn with his supporters. The very next morning, he was in a Manhattan courtroom for the E. Jean Carroll defamation case, watching jury selection. That evening, he was back to New Hampshire for a campaign rally there. And then the next day, it was New York once again for more of the E. Jean Carroll case, where he was unusually animated in court and talking to his lawyers so people could hear. And eventually the judge threatened to kick him out of the courtroom. And Trump replied, I would love that. And the judge basically said, I know you would. And I think that spoke to the fact that he wants to turn the court appearances into a know. He knows that benefits him politically. And that’s a nasty man. He’s a nasty judge. He’s a Trump hating guy. And it’s obvious to everybody in the court, it’s a disgrace, frankly, what’s happening. It’s a disgrace. And after each court appearance, he often gives a press conference that gets more airtime than a rally or a political stop would. And I, frankly, am the one that suffered damages. I should be given money, given damages, and that’s where that is. And with that being said, I’m heading out to New Hampshire. Thank you very much for being back there. And his supporters are lapping all of this up. Thank you very much, everybody. Coming up, back to Manchester ahead of tonight’s vote. So, David, you’re in Manchester, in New Hampshire. Is there a buzz there? Does it feel like there’s a big primary election that’s only hours away? No. And on Sunday, I was just walking around, just trying to soak up a bit of the atmosphere, on the lookout for evidence of a campaign. And I saw very little. The streets were virtually empty, just the occasional car going by. You would not really have known that this is supposedly the center of the Political universe. We’ve seen the number of candidates dwindle rapidly. That means fewer rallies, fewer events around town and around the state. And there’s also a sense of inevitability. Most people think Trump is going to win. So then where are you planning to be tonight when we assume the results will be announced? My plan is to be at Donald Trump’s watch party in Nashawa, New Hampshire, which is not far from know. The journalists sit at rows of desks typing away, and there are usually big screens showing Trump’s favorite network, Fox News, which, by the way, seems to be falling back in love with him. And we will look on as various Trump allies and supporters troop into the room, members of Congress, probably like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gates, alumni of the last Trump administration, people looking for jobs. This time around. We may get Nigel Farage again, as we did in Iowa. We may certainly get Laura Lumer, who’s a right wing extremist social media influencer. This is the company that Trump keeps these days, which is a rather chilling insight into what a second Trump term might look like. David, we’ve had four years of a relatively quiet american political scene, such a far cry from the chaos and the division of the four years that Trump was in power. But it feels like in the last couple of weeks, we’ve crossed a bit of a barrier. And now Donald Trump is back in our lives and we really have no choice but to talk about him all over again. Yeah. Depressing, isn’t it? It is the horror movie where you think the villain has been finished off, and then the hand rises again from the earth, clutching, and you realize there’s a whole nother half hour to go or a whole sequel to come. There was that sense. In 2020, our long national nightmare is over, but it could transpire. Joe Biden was merely an intermission, and now the nightmare is set to resume. David, thank you very much. Thank you. That was David Smith, the Guardian’s Washington, DC bureau chief, and his work from New Hampshire is@theguardian.com and for more reaction and analysis of Tuesday night’s result, look out tomorrow for politics Weekly America with Jonathan Friedland, who was in New Hampshire soaking up the atmosphere and making sense of what it all means. That’s politics weekly America, and you can find it wherever you listen to today in focus. And that is it for today. This episode was produced by Hannah Moore and Hattie Moyer. Sound design was by Rudy Sagadlo. The executive producer was Phil Maynard. And we’re back with you tomorrow.