Five things to know about the GOP primary season as it gets underway

The GOP primary season is about to get underway next week, with Iowa caucuses on January 15, the New Hampshire primary a week later, on January 23, and then a series of primaries leading up to Super Tuesday on March 5. The mainstream media has been treating the run-up to the actual voting in its usual horserace-coverage manner, even though Donald Trump has pretty much treated the whole thing as a side show.

As the dates of the elections get closer, here are five things to know about them.

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Donald Trump is the GOP nominee

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Unless he dies or is otherwise incapacitated, Trump is going to be the Republican standard bearer. He’s 50 percentage points ahead of any of the other candidates in national polls, a gap that simply can’t be overcome. Let’s face it – it’s not as if Trump is going to be brought down by some scandal; he’s already facing 91 felony indictments. To his followers, Trump is a god, not a politician, so the usual rules don’t apply. The primaries are just a formality, much as the political press likes to pretend otherwise.

Nikki Haley’s momentum is a mirage

True, the former UN ambassador and South Carolina governor has seen her poll numbers double since late August – to 11 percent. She is battling with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the distant second spot in Iowa and pinning her hopes on New Hampshire. If, by chance, Haley does have a strong showing in New Hampshire, she can probably thank liberal Democrats, who are allowed to vote in the state’s primary and can send Trump a message. That’s not ever going to happen in another state, so any triumph Haley may have is going to be very short-lived.

Ron DeSantis is damaged goods

DeSantis’ campaign is on life support. A year ago, the Florida governor was supposed to be the party’s savior, rescuing it from Trump. Now that DeSantis has had time on the national stage, everyone has had a chance to see what a truly awful candidate he is. He has zero charisma, only seems to trust his wife and a handful of old friends, and built a campaign that is characterized by waste and infighting. He has singlehandedly destroyed his reputation as a formidable national force. The only question is just how much more weakened he will be in his home state when he returns there.

The entire GOP will fall in line and endorse Trump

Okay, maybe not absolutely all of them. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has made it clear he won’t, and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) won’t either. But Trump has already sewn up a lot of endorsements, and he’s working hard on getting the rest of the party behind him. Sometimes, he woos his target, like Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who ended his quixotic presidential campaign last year before the voting even started. Other times, he uses threats, knowing that one bad word from him can kill a politician’s career. Between greed for power and cowardice, the party will close ranks around Trump so quickly that the primaries will be soon forgotten.

Trump will only grow more brazen

Trump has been ignoring the primary season and running as if he was already the nominee. Every result that brings him closer to the nomination will leave him bolder to express his worst impulses. We’ve already heard him boast about becoming a dictator and use racist language that closely echoed Hitler. He will only ramp up the rhetoric as he wins, taking victory as affirmation. And if by some fluke he loses or Haley gets close to him, Trump will simply resort to claiming election fraud by default.