Donald Trump consolidated his grip on the Republican Party with a strong showing in Iowa, but there was a time not long ago when many could convince themselves his political career was over. The twice-impeached former president slunk off to Florida after the startling violence on Jan. 6, 2021, was largely absent from the airwaves on Fox News and his Truth Social posts rarely penetrated into popular consciousness, but his hold on GOP voters seemed to grow as his criminal charges piled up, wrote Maggie Haberman and Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times. “Very few Democrats — apart from the dee…