Trump spoke to the group in a generic ballroom on the South Carolina fairgrounds virtually instantly after the race was referred to as, having felt like Haley stole the highlight from him in New Hampshire when she received in entrance of cameras first regardless of dropping. Standing on stage flanked by members of the family and political allies, Trump didn’t point out Haley in any respect. Aides to the marketing campaign stated the message he wished to ship at present was that the first is over.
“On November fifth, we’re going to rise up right here and say, ‘Joe you’re fired! You’re fired! Get out!’” Trump stated.
Trump’s win challenges the notion that events are composed of differing regional pursuits. The previous president gained the backing of almost each statewide elected Republican in Haley’s house state, plowing by way of the South after decisive victories in Iowa and New Hampshire. Whereas Trump solely made 5 visits to the state for the reason that begin of 2024 for rallies and fundraisers, and spent considerably much less cash than Haley’s marketing campaign within the state, his crew right here labored to woo grassroots conservatives and religion leaders. And he confirmed off that political power early within the major, flaunting his endorsements from key South Carolina lawmakers at marketing campaign occasions, together with Gov. Henry McMaster and Trump’s former presidential rival, Sen. Tim Scott, who’s now a high contender for Trump’s vice presidential operating mate.
Although Trump was coasting in the direction of a win in all public opinion polls, his crew spent a lot of the first’s closing days hammering Haley in harsh phrases. Trump’s marketing campaign attacked her document on immigration and the state’s gasoline tax and ran a statewide tv advert concentrating on her Social Safety plan. Trump repeatedly used an insulting nickname, “Birdbrain,” when speaking about Haley and even raised suggestive questions on why Haley’s husband, a South Carolina Nationwide Guardsman who’s deployed overseas, didn’t seem on the path along with her.
Trump and his crew additionally publicly pressured Haley to get out of the race. A memo despatched out this week by high Trump advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita referred to as Haley a “wailing loser hell-bent on an alternate actuality and refusing to return to grips along with her imminent political mortality.”
At a rally the night time earlier than the first, Trump highlighted Haley’s help from Democratic donors and stated the previous U.N. ambassador ought to “swap events.”
Haley fought again. Her marketing campaign poured thousands and thousands of {dollars} into tv, radio and digital adverts within the state, and he or she campaigned aggressively throughout South Carolina. She referred to as Trump an agent of “chaos,” questioned his age and psychological health and stated that Trump’s a number of courtroom dramas weren’t solely a distraction from points going through voters however broken his odds of successful a normal election. And she or he referred to as out Trump for his feedback about NATO and for evaluating himself to Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny.
However her criticisms of Trump didn’t persuade voters. And she or he has struggled at occasions to string the needle between saying Trump shouldn’t be president and likewise that she isn’t a ‘By no means Trumper.’
Gerri McDaniel, Trump’s 2016 South Carolina state director who was one of many founders of the Myrtle Tea Social gathering and supported Haley’s governor marketing campaign, questioned Haley’s political future within the state.
“I actually want that they weren’t operating in opposition to one another. I want that Nikki Haley had waited,” McDaniel stated. “Individuals don’t perceive. What’s she pondering? What’s she making an attempt to do?”
