Former President Donald Trump hopes to win his fourth consecutive primary on Saturday against South Carolina’s Nikki Haley, aiming to embarrass his last major rival for the Republican nomination in his home state.
Trump enters the primary with a huge poll lead and the support of top Republicans in the state, including former rival Sen. Tim Scott. Haley, who served as U.N. ambassador under Trump, spent weeks traveling back and forth to the state where she was twice elected governor, warning that the 77-year-old front-runner, who faces four indictments, was too old. , too distracted to serve as president again.
In all but one of South Carolina’s primaries since 1980, the Republican winner in South Carolina has become the party’s nominee. But Haley has repeatedly vowed to soldier on if she loses her home state, even as Trump braces for a potential election rematch with President Joe Biden.
Trump supporters, including those who previously supported Haley when she was governor, seemed confident the former president would secure a solid victory on Saturday.
“I did support her when she was governor. She did some good things,” Davis Paul, 36, said as he waited for Trump at a recent rally in Conway. “But I just don’t think she’s ready to handle a candidate like Trump. I don’t think a lot of people are.”
Trump has swept the state, attending several large rallies in between fundraisers and events in other states, including Michigan, which holds its Republican primary on Tuesday.
He attracted more supporters and campaigned with Haley’s successor as governor, Henry McMaster, and with Scott, whom Haley promoted to the Senate.
Speaking in Rock Hill on Friday, Trump accused Haley of staying in the race at the behest of Democratic donors to hurt him.
“All she wants to do is inflict pain on us so they can win in November,” he said. “We won’t let that happen.”
At some of those rallies, Trump made comments that provided more fodder for Haley’s speaking tour, such as when he questioned her husband on Feb. 10, who is currently in the South Carolina Army National Guard and deployed to Africa. ) Why didn’t she campaign with her. Haley turned the point into an argument that the front-runner disrespected service members and their families, whom Trump has long criticized for suggesting the late Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam prisoner of war, disrespected service members and their families. Hero because he was captured.
That night, Trump claimed that he would encourage Russia and other countries to “do whatever they want” to NATO members who failed to meet the transatlantic alliance’s defense spending targets. Haley has been pointing to that moment as evidence that Trump is too erratic and “gone weak-legged” when it comes to Russia.
After one of Haley’s events, U.S. Navy veteran Terry Sullivan, who lives in Hopkins, said he had planned to support Trump but changed his mind after hearing Haley’s criticism of his NATO remarks .
“A country can say whatever it wants, but when you make deals with other countries, we should join other countries’ deals, not just our own,” Sullivan said. “After listening to Nikki’s speech , I think I’m a Nikki supporter now.”
Haley made an indirect appeal to Democrats who absented themselves from the presidential primaries in large numbers earlier this month, adding this line to her tour speech: “Anyone can vote in this primary as long as they don’t Vote on February 3rd. Democratic Primary.”
Some of those voters, who have been showing up at her events, said that while they planned to vote for Biden in the general election, they planned to participate in the Republican primary on Saturday as a way to oppose Trump now.
In any other election cycle, a loss in the state might have adversely affected the campaign. In 2016, Sen. Marco Rubio dropped out of the race shortly after losing to Trump in Florida because his campaign argued that the political winds would change once the campaign moved to his home state. turning in his favor.
Haley’s campaign couldn’t name a single state where they thought she would win against Trump.
But Haley said in a speech in Greenville this week that she will continue to campaign “until the last person votes,” arguing that those running after early primaries and caucuses should have the right to choose between candidates.
Haley also used that speech – seen by many as her announcement to end her campaign – to argue that she felt “no need to kiss the ring like everyone else,” possibly considering the prospect of serving as Trump’s running mate .
“I’m not worried about Trump’s retaliation,” Haley reiterated. “I’m not looking for anything from him. I have zero worries about my own political future.”