A messy contest is coming to a head behind Donald Trump

AS A HORSE race, the contest to be the Republican Party’s nominee for president is as much of a walkover as they come. Donald Trump has been far ahead all year, and his lead has steadily lengthened. As our new poll tracker shows, the gap between the former president and his closest challenger, Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, has grown from 14 percentage points to a seemingly unassailable 51 points. With Iowa’s big night less than six weeks away, it looks all over bar the caucusing. And if he wins his party’s nomination, Mr Trump would have a good chance of returning to the White House. Analysts at home and abroad are rightly starting to get their minds round what a second Trump term might mean.