Former US president Donald Trump has won South Carolina’s Republican primary, easily beating former UN ambassador Nikki Haley in her home state and further consolidating his path to a third straight nomination as Republican Party candidate for US president.
Mr Trump has now swept every contest that counted for Republican delegates, adding to previous wins in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and the US Virgin Islands.
Ms Haley is facing growing pressure to leave the race but says she is not going anywhere despite losing the state, of which she was governor from 2011 to 2017.
A rematch between Mr Trump and president Joe Biden following on from the 2020 election is becoming increasingly inevitable.
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Ms Haley has vowed to stay in the race through at least the batch of primaries on March 5th, known as Super Tuesday, but was unable to dent Mr Trump’s momentum in her home state despite holding far more campaign events and arguing that the indictments against Mr Trump will hamstring him against Mr Biden.
[ Nikki Haley’s latest drubbing by Donald Trump leaves her campaign in a hopeless place ]
Mr Trump was declared the winner by media as polls closed at 7pm.
That race call was based on an analysis of AP VoteCast, a comprehensive survey of Republican South Carolina primary voters.
The survey confirmed the findings of pre-election day polls showing Mr Trump far outpacing Ms Haley statewide.
“I have never seen the Republican Party so unified as it is right now,” Mr Trump declared, taking the stage for his victory speech mere moments after polls closed.
He added, “You can celebrate for about 15 minutes, but then we have to get back to work.”
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South Carolina’s first-in-the-South primary has historically been a reliable bellwether for Republicans.
In all but one primary since 1980, the Republican winner in South Carolina has gone on to be the party’s nominee. The lone exception was Newt Gingrich in 2012.
Mr Trump was dominant across the state, even leading in Lexington County, which Ms Haley represented in the state legislature.
Many Trump-backing South Carolinians, even some who previously supported Haley during her time as governor, weren’t willing to give her a home-state bump.
“She’s done some good things,” Davis Paul (36), said about Ms Haley as he waited for Mr Trump at a recent rally in Conway.
“But I just don’t think she’s ready to tackle a candidate like Trump. “I don’t think many people can.”
At Haley headquarters on Saturday night, supporters waved Haley signs in front of a large projection screen showing Mr Trump’s speech, blocking it from view. Such a stunt, of course, did not make the defeat any less crushing.
About an hour later, Ms Haley took the stage and said: “What I saw today was South Carolina’s frustration with our country’s direction. I’ve seen that same frustration nationwide.”
“I don’t believe Donald Trump can beat Joe Biden,” Ms Haley said, later adding: “I said earlier this week that no matter what happens in South Carolina, I would continue to run. I’m a woman of my word.”
She said she plans to head to Michigan for its primary on Tuesday, the last major contest before Super Tuesday.
Still, she faces questions about where she might be able to win a contest or be competitive.
Speaking at Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbor in Maryland, Mr Trump said he was a “proud political dissident” and promised “judgment day” for political opponents in an address that offered a chilling vision of a democracy in imminent peril.
He accused Mr Biden of weaponising the government against him with “Stalinist show trials”. He pledged to crack down on border security and deliver the biggest deportation in US history if he wins the November 5th presidential election.
“For hard-working Americans, November 5th will be our new liberation day,” Mr Trump said. “But for the liars and cheaters and fraudsters and censors and impostors who have commandeered our government, it will be their judgment day!”
He added: “Your victory will be our ultimate vindication, your liberty will be our ultimate reward and the unprecedented success of the United States of America will be my ultimate and absolute revenge.”
Mr Trump’s visit marked his 14th appearance at CPAC, breaking the record previously held by former president Ronald Reagan, according to his campaign.
Mr Trump and Mr Biden are already behaving like they expect to face off in November.
Mr Trump and his allies argue that Mr Biden has made the US weaker and point to the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and Russia’s decision to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Trump has repeatedly attacked Mr Biden over high inflation earlier in the president’s term and his handling of record-high migrant crossings at the US-Mexico border.
Mr Trump has questioned, often in harshly personal terms, whether the 81-year-old Mr Biden is too old to serve a second term.
Mr Biden’s team in turn has highlighted the 77-year-old Mr Trump’s own gaffes on the campaign trail.
Mr Biden has stepped up his recent fundraising trips around the country and increasingly attacked Mr Trump directly.
He has called Mr Trump and his Make America Great Again movement dire threats to the nation’s founding principles, and the president’s re-election campaign has lately focused most of its attention on Mr Trump having suggested he would use the first day of a second presidency as a dictator and that he would tell Russia to attack Nato allies who fail to keep up with defence spending obligations mandated by the alliance.
Ms Haley criticised Mr Trump on his Nato comments and also for questioning why her husband was not on the campaign trail with her, even as former first lady Melania Trump has not appeared with him.
Major Michael Haley is deployed in the Horn of Africa on a mission with the South Carolina Army National Guard. – AP/Guardian