Trump is closely watching the Iowa results as the White House shifts its focus away from impeachment

The president has his finger on the Twitter publish button, writes John T Bennett

Elizabeth Warren’s dog stayed on the campaign trial in Iowa as she was stuck in DC (Getty)

Donald Trump and his top aides will be closely monitoring Monday night’s Iowa caucuses as his White House transitions from a focus on impeachment to the likely bruising re-election fight.

The president has been keenly keeping tabs on the Democratic Party’s primary battle, focusing mainly on a small handful of top candidates – hitting them with personal attacks as he tries to discredit each of his would-be general election foes.

“I have to sit back and watch,” Mr Trump said over the weekend about the Democrats’ process. “I mean I’m watching and I have little nicknames for all of them,” he added, likely signalling he will take to Twitter as the results come in to try to knock down the Iowa winner a peg.

It is not uncommon for Mr Trump to bring up “Crazy Bernie” or “Sleepy Joe” or “Pocahontas” even during official White House events that ostensibly concern policy matters. But the truth is, no event at the Trump White House is purely about, for instance, a trade pact or a Middle East peace plan or paring prescription drug prices.

Politics is how Mr Trump views just about everything. And Iowa and the Democratic field were on his mind on Saturday when he sat down with Fox News commentator and host Sean Hannity for an interview that aired during Sunday’s Super Bowl pre-game show.

“At least he’s true to what he believes,” Mr Trump said of Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who has moved to the front of the field in Iowa, according to several recent polls, before turning his criticism on senator Elizabeth Warren: “She’s not true to it. I call her fairy tale because everything is a fairy tale. That’s how ‘Pocahontas’ got started. Everything is a fairy tale.”

Mr Trump then offered a preview of a likely campaign-trail theme he would surely hammer repeatedly if Warren is her party’s nominee: “This woman can’t tell the truth.”

A major reason the president and White House aides will be closely watching Iowa and moving into full re-election mode soon is the scant chances for Republicans and Democrats to pass legislation in an election year – especially so soon after House Democrats impeached Mr Trump.

The decision to make him just the third American commander in chief to be impeached will “put a heavy burden on Democratic leadership’s strategic planning”, said one former senior GOP Senate aide.

“Will the House who impeached be willing to work with a president they do not trust? There are things they would like to see done, but doing them would only improve the president’s chance of re-election this fall,” the former aide said. “Does the House continue investigations following the release of the [John] Bolton book or other information that may come out post-acquittal that is damaging to the President?”

The president in recent days has been much more focused on politics than trying to get anything done in Washington, and the start of voters casting the first 2020 ballots will only intensify his instinct to focus on politics first, second and third.

“I really believe this administration, me and this administration, we’ve done more than any administration in the history of our country,” he said on Fox. “I mean, you see what’s going on. There’s a revolution going on in this country.”