After winning New Hampshire, Trump is cruising to the nomination

MOST THINGS become banal after a near-decade of cultural dominance. But not . Republican voters are still by him, undaunted by all the turmoil and scandal of his time in the White House and his post-presidential life. His rallies retain their feeling of secular religious revival. His fresh-faced rivals, by contrast, have looked unoriginal and uninspiring. By the time Republicans had voted in just one state, Iowa, only one serious remained. All the rest had dropped out; most had endorsed him. The last woman standing, Nikki Haley, a former governor of South Carolina who served as America’s ambassador to the United Nations while Mr Trump was in office, mounted her resistance in New Hampshire, the second state to cast ballots. Like all the rest, she was overrun.Mr Trump got 54.3% of the vote to Ms Haley’s 43.3%, and quickly pointed out that no one had ever won both Iowa and New Hampshire and failed to secure the nomination. An unbowed Ms Haley vowed to fight on. “You’ve all heard the chatter among the political class, they’re falling all over themselves saying this race is over,” she said at a speech in Concord, New Hampshire, conceding victory to Mr Trump. “This race is far from over. There are dozens of states left to go. And the next one is my sweet state of South Carolina.” Mr Trump was not pleased. “Who the hell was the impostor that went up on the stage before and, like, claimed a victory?” he sniped at his victory speech.