Donald Trump defeated, on Saturday (24), his Republican opponent Nikki Haley, in the South Carolina primaries, moving a little closer to a possible rematch with Democrat Joe Biden in the November presidential elections.
The result represents a severe setback for Haley, who embodies the more moderate wing of the Republican Party, as it occurs in the state she governed for six years.
In a sign that the former president no longer considers Haley a threat, Trump did not mention her in his victory speech. He preferred to point to the current president, Democrat Joe Biden, 81 years old.
“We will be here on November 5th and we will look at Joe Biden, we will look him straight in the eyes, he is destroying our country. And we’re going to say: Joe, you’re fired. Get out,” Trump told his electorate in the state capital, Columbia.
Just like in previous primaries, whose objective is to designate the Republican presidential candidate, the former president proved implacable.
American media outlets reported his victory seconds after polling stations closed, but the margin of the result has not yet been announced.
Despite his problems with justice, Trump, 77, is the overwhelming favorite in the race for the Republican nomination.
The outcome of the primaries is clear. “This illustrates that he is now effectively the Republican nominee for president. The speed of the result will likely increase pressure on her to withdraw from the race,” explained David Darmofal, a political scientist at the University of South Carolina, to AFP.
The former president hopes to force his former UN ambassador to throw in the towel, as his other opponents have done, to focus on Biden, a candidate for re-election.
Biden reacted to the South Carolina result with a brief statement, in which he warned Americans about “the threat that Donald Trump poses” to the future, as the country “deals with the damage he left behind”.
“Will not give up”
Haley, 52, resists admitting defeat.
“I stated at the beginning of the week that no matter what happens in South Carolina, I would remain a candidate… I am a woman of my word. I will not give up this fight when the majority of Americans disapprove of Donald Trump and Joe Biden,” she said after the results were announced in the state.
Haley’s premise is simple: “We will not survive four more years of Trump chaos.”
On Saturday, a new controversy arose.
Trump has suggested that his legal troubles make African-Americans sympathetic to his candidacy.
“Black people like me because they have been harmed and discriminated against a lot, and they actually see me as if I am being discriminated against,” he said.
Haley called these comments “disgusting.”
“It’s disgusting. But that’s what happens when you leave the teleprompter. This is the chaos that lies ahead with Donald Trump,” he said at a polling station.
Democrats were also shocked by the speech, due to the comparison between African Americans and crime.
“Overnight in South Carolina, Donald Trump took the stage to make shameful, racist comments that exploit the hate and division that is the worst of us,” Biden said in a campaign message.
The next stage of the primaries will be held in Michigan next Tuesday.
Republicans from Idaho and Missouri will vote on March 2 and those from North Dakota on the 4th, but the most important date on the American political calendar will be March 5, the date of the famous Super Tuesday.
That day, voters from 15 states, including Texas, California, Colorado and Virginia, will go to the polls simultaneously on the big primary day.
In theory, the primaries could continue until July, but Donald Trump’s team predicts a victory “no later than March 19”.
Trump wants to start campaigning for his rematch against Joe Biden, the Democratic president running for re-election, as quickly as possible, before diving into the series of trials that will force him to alternate between rallies and courts.
So why is Haley still in contention? “She is waiting to see whether Trump will be removed due to a court decision or a health problem,” political scientist Larry Sabato, a professor at the University of Virginia, told AFP.
Trump’s first criminal trial will begin on March 25.