IT'S TRUMP'S PARTY

The MAGA movement's takeover of the GOP is now complete

- ERIC CORTELLESSA

EVERY FOUR YEARS, SUPER TUESDAY MAKES for high drama, as voters in roughly a dozen states winnow down the presidential field. This time, it only confirmed what had seemed obvious for months: The Republican primary was over.

With a series of smashing victories, Donald Trump had effectively clinched the nomination. His last remaining opponent, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, suspended her campaign the next morning. While she didn't endorse Trump, most of the party was already falling in line behind him.

"They call it Super Tuesday for a reason," Trump told supporters in a victory speech at Mar-a-Lago. "This is a big one." Trump's triumph gets him another step closer to reclaiming the presidency and pursuing a draconian policy agenda unlike any the nation has ever seen. He has vowed to round up and deport millions of undocumented immigrants; reimpose his travel ban on Muslim-majority countries; purge the federal bureaucracy of civil servants and replace them with MAGA loyalists; force homeless Americans off the streets and into tent cities; and commandeer the Justice Department to exact revenge on his political enemies.

He also grows closer to squashing two of the four criminal prosecutions against him; as President, he could shut down his federal indictments, one for election interference and another for mishandling the nation's secrets.