00:00 Now it is perhaps the least surprising thing since night became day. Joe Biden and Donald Trump each winning enough delegates to clinch their party
00:08 nominations in the 2024 presidential race. A rematch then assured just the votes of the delegates at their respective party national
00:15 conventions to cross and then the presidential election in little over seven months time for the ultimate prize.
00:22 Well, let's sum it all up for you our International Affairs Editor.
00:25 Philip Terrell is with us here on set. As I said, there are really no surprises for him at the top.
00:30 Well, I think if you'd put money on it, you wouldn't be winning very much.
00:32 I think the pundits have all been saying this is exactly what's going to happen.
00:36 And it is exactly what's going to happen. And the bottom line is that most Americans don't want it to happen.
00:41 I think 70% of Americans saying they didn't want a rematch of Donald Trump and Joe Biden again in 2024 like they saw already in 2020.
00:52 Well, that is what they're going to get because those two men have now got what they need.
00:57 That's to say the party nominee delegate requirements.
01:01 Now, one hundred one thousand two hundred and fifteen delegates required by the Republicans.
01:05 That's Donald Trump. He's obtained that.
01:07 One thousand nine hundred and sixty eight delegates for the Democrats and Joe Biden.
01:11 He's also obtained that.
01:13 Now, the four states that were voting on Tuesday were Georgia, Mississippi, Washington and Hawaii.
01:19 It was Biden who crossed the threshold needed when he won Georgia.
01:23 And it was Trump whose victory in Washington assured him of the nominee.
01:28 And as you said, it's no real surprise because Nikki Haley is the only rival to Donald Trump was knocked out of the race after Super Tuesday last week.
01:37 So that opens the door now to what is going to be, I think, probably not a particularly fun campaign for anybody in the US between Joe Biden and Donald Trump over the next six months.
01:50 We are two hundred and forty days away from the election.
01:54 Now, Georgia was the state, as I was just saying, that clinched it for Joe Biden.
02:01 There was an extremely low turnout in Georgia for this victory, which just goes to show there is not much enthusiasm amongst voters in the US for the two candidates in the presidential election.
02:14 Georgia was the pivotal battleground in 2020.
02:17 That was a place, remember, where Donald Trump phoned the governor and said, I want you to find me eleven thousand seven hundred and eighty extra votes to knock out Joe Biden, which, of course, didn't happen.
02:28 And because of that, Trump finds himself indicted in Georgia.
02:33 That's another of his woes to look forward to.
02:35 So that's the situation after the polling, the primaries last night.
02:40 No surprise, Joe Biden on one side and Donald Trump on the other.
02:43 I mean, it's pretty good news for Donald Trump, isn't it?
02:45 It does really cement his hold over the Republican Party.
02:49 Well, it's true that Donald Trump now has an open door to trying to win the presidency for a second time and almost the full support of the Republican Party.
02:59 There was a quote in The New York Times this week, which just about summed it up, which says Donald J.
03:04 Trump is stamping out the final flashes of independence inside Republican institutions with astonishing speed, demonstrating that his power continues to expand over the new party establishment that he has created.
03:18 The Republican Party is now becoming really a party that doesn't do checks and balances on Donald Trump anymore.
03:24 It just gives Donald Trump the green light to do what he wants.
03:27 All those who stood in his way have either had to move out of the way or have seen their careers being threatened by Donald Trump.
03:35 The only fly in the ointment as far as Donald Trump is concerned, really, are all these court cases that are hanging over him.
03:40 Just a reminder of that. Four indictments, 91 felony cases.
03:45 The first one to come along will be on the 25th of March, where he faces trial in New York for these hush payments to Stormy Daniels, the porn star.
03:53 That could seriously dent his chances if he is actually convicted or faces a jail term as a result of these felony charges and indictments.
04:03 But all of that remains to be seen at the moment.
04:06 Donald Trump is short of that nomination.
04:08 The question now is, can he tighten his grip even more on the Republican Party, on the good old parties it's called the GOP,
04:15 or will his convictions really basically lead to a fall in support for him?
04:19 You mentioned that delightful 240 days to go, Philip.
04:24 Where are we with the opinion polls?
04:26 OK, that is a very interesting one, Stuart, because if you look at the polling, really, the Americans don't know.
04:31 And it's neck and neck, pretty much so.
04:34 There's been a slight increase in support for Joe Biden over the last week.
04:39 I've just chosen one poll here, which is from Morning Consult, which puts Joe Biden on 44 percent, Donald Trump on 43 percent.
04:48 Depending on which poll you look at, sometimes Donald Trump is in the lead and Joe Biden slightly behind.
04:53 It's difficult to know right now exactly what's going to happen here.
04:56 And I think what we're going to see is the polls going this way for Biden and that way for Trump.
05:02 But we'll not really know anything until we have the official nominations at the conventions,
05:09 one in July, one in August for both the Republicans and for the Democrats.
05:13 Once those are out of the way and both candidates have been officially nominated as the candidate for president,
05:18 then I think the nitty gritty will start and there will be more fighting.
05:22 It also depends also on how the judicial situation works out for Donald Trump between now and then.
05:28 But I think between now, 240 days away from the presidency, this is really the fastest ever we've known in US history,
05:36 who the two candidates are just a week after Super Tuesday.
05:40 And the first time since 1912 that we've had two presidential candidates, a former president and a current president, facing off each other.
05:47 So quite a lot of firsts as far as this campaign is concerned.
05:52 But the underlying factor is not many Americans want either candidate.
