ATKINSON, NH — Fresh off a resounding victory in Iowa’s Republican Caucus, former President Donald Trump returned to the Granite State to begin a week-long series of rallies ahead of the first presidential primary of the 2024 cycle.

Trump walked away from the Hawkeye State with 51% of support behind him and the endorsement of now-former candidate Vivek Ramaswamy; he arrived in New Hampshire Tuesday to find himself far out in front of his opponents in what is now a three-person race.

“If you think it was easy to get here, you would be wrong,” Trump told the crowd just before 7 p.m. “We had a great win last night in Iowa. Largest margin of victory in GOP history.”

Despite his overwhelming win in Iowa, Trump appears unwilling to take a primary victory for granted: his campaign has scheduled five stops for the former president before voting begins in New Hampshire next week.

Hundreds of the former president’s supporters packed into the ballroom at the Atkinson Resort & Country Club, filling the room well before his 5 p.m. address was due to be given, many after waiting for hours in the January cold and a sudden snowstorm.

Trump didn’t take the stage until almost 2 hours after his scheduled start and spoke for about an hour. He took no questions from the audience.

Ed Young, of Brick, New Jersey, told the Herald he had arrived before dawn on Tuesday to be one of the first in the door for what would be his 66th Trump rally.

Covered top to bottom in Trump buttons and regalia, the amateur filmmaker said the former president puts on a show unlike any other politician.

“He is our first rock-star, superhero president. He’s the real-life Tony Stark. He’s President Iron Man,” Young said.

Young has been to rallies as far south as the Carolinas, he said, driving to as many as he can make without losing his full-time job. He’ll be back in New Hampshire this weekend for another of the president’s planned rallies.

He keeps coming back, time after time, he said, because the fate of the nation is at stake this election cycle.

“Donald Trump is the only one that can save this country,” Young said.

The 45th President has good reason to dedicate his time to New Hampshire despite his dominance in national polls, which have shown him with an about 50 point lead on his fellow conservatives for much of the year-long run up to the first primary. That lead dwindles to just single digits in the Granite State, with former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley close at his heels.

Trump’s speech, as per usual, was wide ranging and bombastic, punctuated with pantomime and peppered with of sudden spikes in the volume of his voice. He introduced Ramaswamy to the crowd shortly after taking the stage, when the 38-year-old former-candidate said the Republican party is in the middle of a “war” against “woke” ideology and liberal ideas.

Trump, Ramaswamy said, can stop it.

“We’re going to make this happen,” Ramaswamy said. “We need a commander in chief who will lead us to victory in this war.”

“It is a 1776 moment right now,” he continued. “To Make America Great Again, vote for this man in the New Hampshire primary.”

“He was doing well, it’s an honor to have his endorsement,” Trump said, before launching into an attack on Haley.

“She’s not doing particularly well,” Trump said, accusing her of touting “fake” polls showing her beating Biden by 17 points. “The people behind Haley are pro-China, pro-war, pro Biden.”

Trump, like clockwork, attacked the gathered members of the press, all of whom had been invited to the event by the former president’s campaign, calling the media “vicious people.”

“We need an honest media,” he said. “They don’t want any more of Trump.”

He again denied that he had lost the 2020 election to President Biden — who he called the “most crooked” and “most corrupt” president in history — which he did by over 7 million votes. He claimed the election results came after “cheating” on the behalf of Democrats.

“We’re beating crooked Joe Biden in every poll,” he said. “If you wanna defeat the radical left democrats and save America, you must vote for your favorite president of all time, Donald Trump.”

Trump stressed the importance of his voters not staying home come Jan. 23.

“With your help, one week from now, we’re going to win the New Hampshire primary,” he said.

Trump called the U.S. military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, which he had arranged during the waning days of his lone term in office, “the most embarrassing moment in U.S. history.”

“We’re like a country run by fools,” he said.

Trump lamented the state of the U.S. border, which he says was “secure” under his administration but is “out of control” under Biden. He said the economy under his leadership was the “greatest in the world.”

The 45th President, who is facing 91 felony-level charges for crimes he allegedly committed before, during, and after his time in office, called his legal woes “bullshit.”

“I call them Biden-charges,” he said.

According to the former president, conflicts in Israel and Ukraine would not have occurred under a second Trump administration.

“I know Putin very well. There is no way he was going to do it,” Trump said.

Trump said that the only reason the stock market is doing as well as it is — it’s currently at a record high — is because people think he will be re-elected.

His win in Iowa on Monday, he said, resulted in a crash in the Chinese stock market.

Atkinson, NH – Vivek Ramaswamy endorses Republican candidate for President Donald Trump during an event at the Atkinson Country Club. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)
Atkinson, NH – Ed Young, who says he has been to sixty six Trump rallies, shows off his shirt as Republican candidate for President Donald Trump speaks during an event at the Atkinson Country Club. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)