'He wins big' Trump storms the Republican caucuses in Iowa

For some Americans it's a nightmare from which they cannot wake, but for others it's a new chapter in the Maga saga

- David Smith DES MOINES

There is a familiar scene in many a film where the protagonist jolts awake from a terrible nightmare, only to realise that he or she didn't wake up at all: the nightmare continues.

For the millions of Americans who abhor Donald Trump, there was a similar sensation on Monday night as the former US president swaggered out on stage in Des Moines, having just scored a resounding victory in the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses.

It was an eerie replay of 2016 and all those shocking nights when reality TV star Trump won primaries and eventually the presidency.

It was as if the coronavirus pandemic, the Black Lives Matter protests, the defeat by Joe Biden, the January 6 insurrection and the 91 charges across four criminal cases had all been a fever dream.