|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
It was as close to a lock as it ever gets in politics. Former U.S. president Donald Trump breezed to victory in Saturday’s South Carolina presidential primary without breaking a political sweat … as was widely expected. Emboldened by the same MAGA faithful which propelled him to the White House eight years ago – along with a slew of new converts – Trump blew past his lone remaining Republican rival, Nikki Haley, in her home state.
With more than 93 percent of the vote counted, Trump led Haley with 60.1 percent of ballots counted compared to the former Palmetto State governor’s 39.2 percent.
Trump’s victory was so resounding several major TV networks and news services called the race the moment the polls closed at 7:00 p.m. EST. Surrounded by practically the entire Palmetto State GOP establishment, Trump delivered his victory speech in Columbia a mere seven minutes later.
“It was an even bigger win than we had anticipated,” Trump began.
Actually, the final margin will likely wind up being slightly smaller than the 23.3 percent projected by RealClearPolling or the 27.6 percent spread called for by FiveThirtyEight.
***
Still, it was an emphatic drubbing … and one administered in Haley’s backyard, a state where she served as governor for six years and a member of the legislature for six years prior to that.
In Trump’s rambling, stream-of-consciousness remarks it seemed as though he would thank every single Republican in the state by name. Worth noting: U.S. senator Lindsey Graham and SCGOP chairman Drew McKissick were both booed by the audience when they were mentioned.
But the biggest takeaway from Trump’s appearance was the one name he didn’t mention: Haley’s. There were no putdowns, no snide comments about her dress (as he made after the Iowa caucuses); no derisive nicknames. Nothing at all.
It was a smart strategy. Fox News’ exit polling showed a significant percentage of Haley voters (nearly six out of ten) indicating they would not vote for Trump in November. That mirrored the reaction of Haley supporters in Iowa and New Hampshire. In other words, if Trump emerges from the Republican National Convention as the nominee this July, as widely expected, he’ll need to do some significant fence-mending within the GOP to maximize his positioning in the general election.
(Click to View)
Haley took her time in delivering what for any other candidate would have been a swan song. Responding at a Charleston hotel an hour later, she gave a good concession speech. Of course, having done it three times before in the last five weeks, she’s had a good bit of practice. Haley did the only thing she could do: Put on a game face and vowed to forge ahead.
“I’m a woman of my word,” Haley said. “I’m not giving up this fight when a majority of Americans disapprove of both Trump and Biden. In the next ten days, 21 states and territories will speak. They have the right to a real choice, not a Soviet-style election with only one candidate. And I have a duty to give them that choice.”
After pointing out that “40 percent is not some tiny group,” she went on to conflate Trump and Joe Biden as equally bad choices (with herself as the only viable alternative to them, incidentally). She then pledged to sally off to future fields of battle.
“I’m grateful today is not the end of our story,” she said. “We’re heading to Michigan tomorrow, and then we’re heading to the Super Tuesday states throughout all of next week … we won’t rest until America wins.”
Haley even managed to say “this has never been about me or my political future” with a completely straight face.
(Click to View)
Speaking of her future, Haley is parsing her words with exacting precision these days, being extraordinarily careful to avoid shutting the door on the possibility of bolting the GOP and running with a third-party group, such as the nascent No Labels movement.
Meanwhile, über-liberal California governor Gavin Newsom said the proverbial quiet part out loud when he referred to Haley as one of the Democrats’ “best surrogates.”
Pundits had watched closely Saturday to see if Democrats would cross party lines in substantial numbers in a bid to boost Haley’s campaign. The S.C. Democratic Party (SCDP) took the possibility so seriously executive director Jay Parmley had even cautioned in an email earlier this month that any Democrat who voted in the Republican primary would be shut out of their upcoming Democratic county convention. Clearly, crossover voting did not deliver anything close to a win for Haley – but expect the data to be parsed for weeks to come as its true impact is assessed.
With an estimated 87 percent of the vote counted, our founding editor Will Folks offered up this assessment of the “crossover” effect …
***
***
Saturday’s loss was especially stinging for Haley. Losing badly is one thing; losing badly in the state where you were born and raised, attended college, and served as governor for six years is humiliating. It’s a tough sell to win over Republicans elsewhere in the country with the argument, “they may not like me in my home state, but they’ll love me in yours.”
Haley needs to win something … anything, anywhere … and quickly. Assuming she wants to remain remotely relevant as a Republican candidate. Even Rhode Island looks good to her at this point.
After finally getting the blowout win he had long craved, Trump is clearly looking ahead, too. His closing words to his supporters in Columbia on Saturday night made it clear:
“Go home, get rest; we have a lot of work ahead of us.”
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
J. Mark Powell is an award-winning former TV journalist, government communications veteran, and a political consultant. He is also an author and an avid Civil War enthusiast. Got a tip or a story idea for Mark? Email him at mark@fitsnews.com.
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to proactively address? We have an open microphone policy here at FITSNews! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
18 comments
LMAO! I am not a Trump supporter but am glad he handed this yapping bitch her ass, tonight! Her own state knows her better than anyone. We rejected her. There are reasons. Many, many, reasons.
Me neither. Bless her heart.
But I don’t want to see a rerun of The Apprentice: White House.
Anyone see the results from Charleston County? Haley beat Trump by over 20% in Charleston. That does not bode well for Mace come November.
ATTENTION JAY PARMLEY: I saw Democrat Juanita Warthen (or is it Juarthen?) voting in the GOP Primary yesterday. However, I know her hubs Bradley voted in the Dem Primary a few weeks prior (though I’m surprised she let him).
6 out of 10 Haley voters won’t vote for Trump in November because they are Dems that crossed over to try to trip Trump up in the primaries.
And nobody that voted for Biden in 2020 is suddenly going to switch to Trump
Never forget that orange POS called our war-dead LOSERS AND SUCKERS! There is only one group of people in this country who are losers and suckers and they are the ones who have signed up for the Trump cult. No decent American would stand for what he said. You are all disgrace to every person who ever died in the defense of this country.
Give it up Nikki, Jan was a loser on the Brady Bunch too.
Was it OK when Biden was checking his watch when 13 service men and women’s caskets were in front of him??
I’ll never forget that that the ‘losers and suckers” meme was roundly proven as false, with even John Bolton, who despises Trump, saying that was the case: “it never happened.” Not a single person has ever been attributed publicly on the record saying that they heard Trump say that, or even a case of double-hearsay: that someone else who heard it told someone else, who told Jeffery Goldberg, the reporter who attempted to launder that claim. Your language seems very similar to a post I smacked down with FACTS earlier this month….makes me think you are just a hack who repeats propaganda hits and then vanishes when someone shows up and shines the light on your lies.
At this point she’s just holding out in case Trump gets convicted on some of his 91 felony charges, or chokes to death on a cheeseburger.
Agree
She’ll hang on for as long as the money keeps coming in. Easy money. And she.does.make a good speech..never wears same thing twice.
755,000 votes in this primary……. that’s it. Total.
The primary results just underscore how irredeemable the GOP is.
Haley never really stood a chance, even if she ultimately stood the best “chance” against Trump out of the crowd. The GOP wants their criminal. They love the fraud. They love the sexual assault. They love the insurrection. That is what they identify with.
Yes, let’s all hail the victory of the Wannabe Dictator and let’s NOT look at Trump’s demographic problem. Fortunately for America, the electorate as a whole does not consist of older evangelicals because that’s Trump’s core audience and that will not get him elected in 2024 because that is not the majority of the electorate in the US as a whole and that’s a big problem for Trump and the GOP. In fact, the SC GOP electorate that turned out for this primary were the oldest electorate this century. Additionally, the vast majority of his base on Saturday were election deniers, and again, they constitute a majority in SC but a minority in the US as a whole. So how is he going to win (other than cheat) in November?
Now that the Koch Brothers, ie., Americans For Prosperity, have pulled out of Haley, Nikki needs to find another Sugar Daddy.
I knew her campaign was a farce when my next door part time neighbors (who reside and vote in Northern VA) had some Haley campaigner knock on their door and next thing I know….poof….Haley sign in their front yard last week. They will come sailing back down here in November with their BIDEN sticker on their car. Just like 2020.
She never had their support.
As for the “suckers and losers” comment, I chose to take the word of a four star Marine general, who lost a son in Afghanistan, John Kelly, over ex-President “Heel-Spurs.”