New Hampshire revealed America’s true divide

New Hampshire, then, was far from Donald Trump’s difficult second album. If anything, it was another performance of his Greatest Hits. His path to the White House is firmly in sight; Nikki Haley’s primary challenge, by contrast, has been rendered all but nominal.

After Trump scored his first thumping victory in the Iowa caucuses, widespread concern about his looming presidency resurrected the idea of a “national divorce”, if not full-on civil war. Yesterday’s triumph will have only aggravated this anxiety. The problem, however, is that it’s largely being expressed in a misguided manner.

There are certainly ominous parallels with the original US Civil War, as the historian Michael Auslin has recently noted. Much as the march towards the conflict between the Union and the Confederacy took decades to build up to actual military conflict, this year’s election represents the culmination of a protracted process, characterised by delegitimising national elections, demonising political opponents, and an unprecedented use of legal tactics to subvert voter preferences.