Consolidating his path, Trump wins South Carolina primaries

Donald Trump won the South Carolina Republican primary on Saturday (Feb. 24), defeating former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in his home state and cementing his path to a third straight GOP nomination. Trump has now won every election counting for Republican delegates, already with victories in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and the US Virgin Islands. The former president’s latest victory will likely increase pressure on Haley, who served as Trump’s former representative to the U.N. and governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017, to leave the race.

A general rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden in 2020 is becoming increasingly inevitable. Haley vowed to stay in the race at least until the March 5 series of primaries, known as Super Tuesday, but failed to dent Trump’s momentum in his home state, despite hosting many more campaign events and arguing that indictments against Trump would cripple the gambits. him against Biden.

“I have never seen the Republican Party as united as it is right now,” Trump said, taking the stage for his victory speech just moments after the election closed.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley vowed to fight Saturday, underscoring the steep climb she faces to win the Republican presidential nomination. “I said earlier this week that no matter what happens in South Carolina, I will continue to show up…I am a woman of my word. I will not give up this fight while a majority of Americans disapprove of Donald Trump. and Joe Biden,” she said.

A reliable indicator for the Republicans

South Carolina’s early primary in the South has always been a reliable bellwether for Republicans. In all but one primary since 1980, the Republican winner in South Carolina has become the party’s nominee. The only exception was Newt Gingrich in 2012. Haley said in recent days that she would head straight to Michigan for Tuesday’s primary, the last big contest before Super Tuesday. She wonders where she could win a competition or be competitive.

Trump and Biden are already behaving as if they expect to face each other in November. Trump and his allies say Biden has weakened the United States and point to the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and Russia’s decision to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Trump also repeatedly attacked Biden over high inflation early in the president’s term and his handling of record migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump questioned — often in very personal terms — whether Biden, 81, was too old to serve a second term. Biden’s team, in turn, pointed out the 77-year-old Trump’s mistakes during the election campaign.

Biden has stepped up his recent fundraising trips across the country and has increasingly attacked Trump directly. He has called Trump and his “Make America Great Again” movement serious threats to the nation’s founding principles, and the president’s re-election campaign has recently focused most of its attention on Trump, suggesting he would use the first day of a second presidency as dictator and that he would tell Russia to attack NATO allies who are not meeting their defense spending obligations imposed by the alliance.

Haley also criticized Trump for his comments about NATO and for questioning why her husband wasn’t on the campaign trail with her — even though former first lady Melania Trump didn’t appear with him. Maj. Michael Haley is deployed to the Horn of Africa on a mission with the South Carolina National Guard.

Mixed feelings about NATO and Ukraine aid

But South Carolina Republican voters are aligning with Trump because of their lukewarm feelings about NATO and continued U.S. support for Ukraine, according to AP VoteCast data from Saturday’s primary . About 6 in 10 people oppose continuing aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia. Only about a third rated U.S. participation in NATO as “very good,” while more said it was only “fairly good.”

Haley has raised large sums of money for her campaign and is expected to begin a cross-country campaign drive Sunday in Michigan ahead of Super Tuesday on March 5, when many delegate-rich states will hold primaries. But it’s unclear how she will be able to prevent Trump from recruiting enough delegates to become the party’s presumptive nominee for a third time.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, praised Haley when speaking to reporters at Trump’s election night party in Columbia, but suggested it was time for her to give up. “I think the sooner she does it, the better it will be for her, the better it will be for the party,” Graham said.

Trump’s political strength has endured despite 91 criminal charges related to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden, the discovery of classified documents at his Florida residence and allegations that he secretly arranged bribes. wine for a porn actress.

First criminal trial on March 25

The former president’s first criminal trial is scheduled to begin March 25 in New York, where he faces 34 counts of falsifying business records related to money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels during of the final weeks of his 2016 presidential campaign.

Biden won the South Carolina Democratic primary earlier this month and faces just one remaining challenger, Dean Phillips. The Democratic congressman from Minnesota continued to campaign in Michigan ahead of the Democratic primary, even though he has little chance of beating Biden.

Although Biden is expected to hope to win his party’s re-nomination, he faces criticism from some Democrats for providing military support to Israel in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Some members of his party support a ceasefire as the death toll from Israel’s war has reached 30,000 people, two-thirds of whom are women and children. The war could hurt the president’s general election chances in key states like Michigan, which is home to a large Arab-American population.