Trump makes history again as he powers toward Republican nomination

Nothing seems to be stopping Donald Trump as he surges toward his third consecutive Republican nomination.

The ex-president on Tuesday became the first modern-era non-incumbent Republican to win the first two presidential nominating contests, adding the New Hampshire primary to his Iowa caucuses landslide from last week, and reached the brink of a rematch with President Joe Biden.

Trump has all but cleared the GOP field at an astonishing clip. Despite a crush of criminal liability and the memory of his assault on democracy on January 6, 2021, he is consolidating his party around him at a rate unprecedented in modern primary elections.

And yet, Trump spent Tuesday night seething, sources told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, because his sole remaining GOP rival, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, isn’t dropping out. Despite failing to land a win against the ex-president in the state perhaps most suited to her candidacy, she insisted she would go on, resisting heavy pressure from Trump’s camp to bow out and promising to engage in what looks like an uphill battle in her home state – which holds the next big primary next month. Trump criticized Haley publicly and privately and urged his political aides to up their attacks on her, Collins reported.

While his reaction to his New Hampshire win was far less jubilant than his Iowa triumph, the twin victories represent a stunning act of political survival. Three years ago, Trump left Washington stung by his second impeachment after trying to overturn the result of an election that he lost. There’s also a possibility he could be a convicted felon by November’s election given that he’s facing 91 criminal charges and more trials — civil and criminal — than can be counted on one hand. His wins underscore his success in leveraging his legal problems to paint a narrative of political persecution that’s bolted his…