Donald Trump reveals his criteria for choosing a vice president
Donald Trump has taunted his rival for the Republican presidential rival Nikki Haley ahead of this week’s primary and caucus in Nevada, declaring on Truth Social that the nomination process “seems to be over” before pledging to “finish off a very unpopular candidate” in South Carolina later this month.
The former president also appeared to signal the end for Ronna McDaniel’s tenure as Republican National Committee chair and ridiculed Joe Biden’s upcoming Super Bowl appearance but had some kind words for King Charles III following his cancer diagnosis.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Newsmax, the Republican suggested that the US no longer had “free and fair elections” and called the country “pathetic”.
That followed the arrival of new polling from CNN that found that most Americans believe there should be a verdict on Mr Trump’s election subversion charges ahead of November’s presidential election.
Some 48 per cent of those polled say it is essential, with another 16 per cent saying they would prefer it to happen before then.
Only 11 per cent believe the trial should be postponed until after the election, while a further 25 per cent say the timing does not matter to them.
The hidden way Trump could still beat Haley in today’s Nevada primary
As if election season weren’t complicated enough already, Nevada Republicans are holding both a primary and a caucus this year – effectively giving registered conservative voters two chances to declare their preferred candidate for the party’s presidential nomination.
The situation is the result of a dispute between the state and the local branch of the Republican party over a bipartisan bill passed by Nevada’s state legislature in 2021.
The bill stipulated that the Silver State must hold political primaries if more than one candidate is in contention for a given race, doing away with the old party-run caucus system traditionally employed.
As a result, a mandatory state-run Republican primary will be held on Tuesday 6 February.
However, the state Republican party pushed back on this plan and organised that caucuses will also take place on Thursday 8 February.
Under the Nevada Republican party’s rules, candidates are barred from running in both the primary and in the caucuses.
This odd state of play has divided the contenders into two camps and means that Nikki Haley and Donald Trump will not go head-to-head this time around, as they did in Iowa and New Hampshire, but that doesn’t mean Trump supporters can’t spoil her party in the primary.
Joe Sommerlad6 February 2024 13:45
Majority of Americans don’t trust Supreme Court to rule fairly on 2024 election cases, poll finds
Here’s Maroosha Muzaffar with more from the same poll, which also identified a large proportion of the American electorate suspicious of the conservative-majority on the Supreme Court.
Joe Sommerlad6 February 2024 13:15
Most Americans want verdict on Trump election charges before 2024 vote, poll finds
Nearly half of Americans say that they want federal courts to reach a verdict on Donald Trump’s criminal charges stemming from his efforts to overturn the 2020 election before votes are cast in this year’s presidential election.
A CNN poll released on Monday found that 43 per cent of Americans see a resolution to that matter as a necessity given that Trump is likely to be the Republican nominee for president this year.
The share of respondents who agreed was markedly higher than the percentage of Americans who said it wasn’t important to their vote, which was around one in five, or the share who said the trial should be postponed until after the election (which was just 11 per cent). A further 16 per cent said they hoped the trial would conclude before November, but were not overly concerned with the outcome’s timing.
The poll is another piece in the growing pile of evidence suggesting that the greatest threat to Trump’s desired second term (beyond his unparalleled unfavourability ratings) remains his four criminal trials. The ex-president is facing a total of 91 felony counts, with prosecutors in two separate jurisdictions are alleging that he committed criminal acts in the course of attempting to reverse Joe Biden’s lawful victory in the 2020 election.
John Bowden takes a closer look.
Joe Sommerlad6 February 2024 12:45
TV roundup: Hannity offended by Biden, Roy offended by Haley, Habba offended by everything
Fox’s Sean Hannity last night pronounced his delicate sensibilities upset by reports that President Biden refers to Donald Trump as a “sick f***” in private, which the anchor felt was not becoming for a “grandfather figure”, conveniently overlooking the septuagenarian Trump’s own history of bad language (alluding to “s***hole countries” etc).
On CNN, Texas Republican congressman Chip Roy told Kaitlan Collins that Nikki Haley’s cameo on Saturday Night Live over the weekend indicated that she is not “representing the conservatives which I represent”.
Back on Newsmax, Trump lawyer Alina Habba complained about pretty much everything relating to last month’s $83.3m defamation award to E Jean Carroll by a New York jury, still smarting from an embarrassing defeat.
Joe Sommerlad6 February 2024 12:15
Undaunted Haley signals to Trump that she’s in it for the long haul
Nikki Haley isn’t going anywhere.
At least, that’s the message her campaign is trying to get across this week as February begins and the battle for her home state of South Carolina ramps up.
Still trailing Donald Trump by a hefty margin in all national polling and most surveys of upcoming primary states, the former governor and UN ambassador is battling a perception that was born months before Iowa and New Hampshire voted: the idea that the race is over.
Joe Sommerlad6 February 2024 11:45
Haley requests Secret Service protection amid rising threats
Trump’s rival for the Republican presidential nomination Nikki Haley says she has asked the US Secret Service for protection due to ongoing threats of violence against her.
Haley told The Wall Street Journal on Monday afternoon that she had officially applied for help from the agency, which protects senior US politicians and their families.
It comes after at least two “swatting” attempts against the former South Carolina governor, in which police were called to her house by false reports of violence.
Joe Sommerlad6 February 2024 11:15
Trump says US elections are ‘not free and fair’, ramps up pressure on McDaniel and Congress and rambles about ‘supply change’
The Republican front-runner gave an interview to Rob Schmitt of Newsmax last night in which he said, among many other things, that it is time for McDaniel to go, that the US no longer has “free and fair elections” and that the country is “pathetic”.
He also further ramped up the pressure on Congress over its proposed border bill, calling it “a trap for Republicans”.
Finally, there was also this bizarre moment, which I confess I don’t entirely understand.
Has he misheard “supply chains” somewhere?
Joe Sommerlad6 February 2024 10:45
Truth Social: Trump pays tribute to ‘wonderful man’ King Charles III after cancer diagnosis
This is rather more decent from Trump, quite a different tone from the bile he normally dumps on his social network.
Here is what President Biden had to say about His Majesty.
You can follow our liveblog on the King’s condition below, incidentally.
Joe Sommerlad6 February 2024 10:15
Truth Social: Trump says primaries ‘seem to be over’ and suggests axe hanging over RNC boss
Donald Trump has taunted his rival for the Republican presidential rival Nikki Haley ahead of this week’s primary and caucus in Nevada, declaring on Truth Social that the nomination process “seems to be over” before pledging to “finish off a very unpopular candidate” in South Carolina later this month.
Amid a very upbeat post about his election prospects, the former president also appeared to signal the end for Ronna McDaniel’s tenure as Republican National Committee chair, unashamedly throwing his weight around as the most popular conservative in the country.
He also found time to gripe about his New York fraud trial and to ridicule Joe Biden, naturally.
Joe Sommerlad6 February 2024 09:45
Trump asks followers if he looks like Elvis
Donald Trump straw-polled supporters on Truth Social this weekend over his apparent likeness to the King of Rock and Roll.
Amid preparations for the Nevada Republican caucus next week, the former president took time to ask followers on the social media platform for their thoughts on his similarity to Elvis Presley. The former president shared an image comprising half of Elvis’ face lined up with half of his own.
“For so many years people have been saying that Elvis and I look alike,” Mr Trump posted on Saturday. “Now this pic has been going all over the place. What do you think?”
Ariana Baio reports on what replies he received:
Oliver O’Connell6 February 2024 09:15