Donald Trump wins South Carolina primary against one remaining rival Nikki Haley
Donald Trump has won a key primary putting him a step closer to a Biden rematch. But his one remaining rival refuses to play ball.
Donald Trump has won a crucial vote in the state of South Carolina which could all but guarantee a White House rematch with Joe Biden.
With 90 per cent of the vote counted on Saturday night US time, Mr Trump looks to have around 60 per cent of the vote in the South Carolina Republican primary, held on Saturday US time, with former South Carolina Governor and a one time US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on 40 per cent.
US TV network NBC said the result was a “landslide” for the former president.
Mr Trump said it was “an even bigger win than we anticipated”.
But despite his win, Ms Haley said she would stay in the race as she beleived Mr Trump could not beat US President Joe Biden.
It means she will continue to fight it out until at least Super Tuesday on March 5 when 15 states hold primaries.
Primaries, and caucuses which are similar, help decide who from the two major US parties will be on the ballot for president. Mr Trump looks to have nabbed at least 44 of South Carolina’s 50 delegates to the Republican National Convention in July where the presidential candidate is oficially chosen.
Even though Mr Trump was always expected to win the conservative state, it is galling for Ms Haley as it is her home state.
She looks to have beaten Mr Trump in the major cities of Charleston and Columbia with Mr Trump triumphing elsewhere.
Two words Trump didn’t say
Donald Trump has spoken multiple times in the last 24 hours.
But there were two words he markedly didn’t say. Those two words were: “Nikki Haley”. He didn’t mention his rival at all.
In a brief speech in Columbia after the exit poll predicted his win Mr Trump said, “there’s never been spirit like this”.
“I’ve never seen the Republican Party so unified as it is right now.”
“This was a little sooner than we anticipated, and an even bigger win than we anticipated”.
‘I’m not sure she’s in the race’: Trump
Earlier in the day Mr Trump gave a speech at the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) conference in Maryland where he again failed to mention his opponent.
“To achieve our future, we have to throw off the chains of the political class, and that begins with crooked Joe Biden,” the former president said to a friendly crowd.
“That begins with telling him: ‘You’re fired!’” Mr Trump said.
Talking to Fox News after his win, Mr Trump was asked about Ms Haley.
I’m “really not thinking about that,” he said.
“I’m really thinking about we have to beat Joe Biden.
“I don’t know if she’s in the race at all, because, you know, I have set records in every single state. I’m not sure that she’s really in the race.”
‘Trump can’t beat Biden’
In her post poll speech, Ms Haley did mention Donald Trump: once to congratulate him on his in her state but lots more to insist he would not win a head-to-head battle with Mr Biden in November.
“I don’t believe Donald Trump can beat Joe Biden,” she said in Charleston.
“Nearly every day, Trump drives people away.
“Today we’re getting around 40 per cent of the vote. I know 40 per cent is not 50 per cent but I also know 40 per cent is not some tiny group.
“There are huge numbers of voters saying that they want an alternative”.
She said she would remain in the race despite Mr Trump’s continued wins because it wasn't a “Soviet style election with one candidate”.
“We can’t afford four more years of Biden’s failures or Trump’s lack of focus.
“I said no matter what happened in South Carolina I would continue to run. I’m a woman of my word. I’m not giving up when a majority of Americans disapprove of both Joe Biden and Donald Trump.”
‘It’s disgusting’
Before the polls closed Mr Trump made a comment that raised eyebrows. During his CPAC speech, he said: “Black people like me because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as I’m being discriminated against,” he said.
In South Carolina, 27 per cent of voters are black.
He said black voters also particularly liked a now-famous mug shot taken of him in a Georgia jail, the state where he will face a trial accused of trying to alter the outcome of the 2020 election which he lost.
“The mug shot, we’ve all seen the mug shot, and you know who embraced it more than anybody else? The black population. It’s incredible. You see black people walking around with my mug shot, you know they do shirts,” he said.
It was comments that Ms Haley, who voted in South Carolina with her elderly mother on Saturday, seized upon.
“It’s disgusting, but that’s what happens when he goes off the teleprompter. That’s the chaos that comes with Donald Trump.
“That’s the offensiveness that’s going to happen every day between now and the general election.”
Biden chimes in
On Saturday night, President Joe Biden – who was at a fundraiser in Washington DC – said Mr Trump would take American backwards if he won the election.
“Every day, we are reminded of the threat Donald Trump poses to our future as Americans grapple with the damage he left behind,” Mr Biden said in a statement following Mr Trump’s win.
“We all have more to do to push towards a more perfect union, but Trump wants to take us backwards,” the president said.
Two thirds say Trump fit to serve – even if a criminal
US TV network NBC revealed research on Saturday that stated that more than six in 10 (65 per cent) of South Carolina’s Republican primary voters would consider Mr Trump fit to be president even if he was convicted of a crime. That puts South Carolina in a similar position to Iowa, which held its primary earlier this year and saw a big win for Mr Trump.
But in New Hampshire, a less conservative state, sympathy towards Mr Trump’s legal woes was far cooler.
In the South Carolina primary, NBC data also showed voters who were neither Republican or Democrat were more split, with 50 per cent saying he would not be fit.
How primary votes are awarded
South Carolina has 50 Republican delegates and will award the votes of 29 of them to the candidate who wins this primary. It will also award three to the winner in each of the state’s seven congressional districts.
A minimum of 1215 delegates are needed nationwide to secure the Republican presidential nomination – more than half the 2429 available. After three state contests so far, Ms Haley has 17 delegates to Mr Trump’s 63.
South Carolina’s delegates are a sliver of the total number, but wins in early primaries and caucuses have historically created momentum leading up to Super Tuesday, the day when most of the states vote. Super Tuesday states include California (169 delegates) and Texas (161).
– With AFP
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