Former President Donald Trump crushed former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in yet another GOP primary, only this time, Haley lost on her own territory.
POTUS 45 defeated her in the Palmetto State contest with 59.8 percent of the vote, to Haley’s 39.5. At this writing, Trump had won 44 of the state’s 50 delegates.
The latest embarrassing loss is Haley’s fifth, and it was particularly embarrassing because it was, again, a defeat in her home state.
When she’ll abandon her quixotic quest is anyone’s guess.
Trump’s Overwhelming Numbers
The numbers in this latest victory demonstrated once again that Trump is unstoppable, and will almost certainly face President Joe Biden on November 5.
Trump won 451,905 votes. Haley won 298,681. Twenty-nine delegates went to the winner of the statewide contest, and three went to the winner of the state’s seven congressional districts.
But those numbers aren’t surprising. Trump has steamrolled Haley in every contest:
- In New Hampshire, Trump pulled 176,385 votes, or 54.4 percent, to Haley’s 140,290.
- Likewise in Iowa, Trump prevailed with 51 percent of the vote against Haley’s 21.2 percent, defeating her by more than 32,000 votes.
- Haley lost the no-delegate Nevada primary to “none of these candidates,” then lost the caucuses because she did not participate.
- Trump also won in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
So now Trump has 107 delegates to Haley’s 20. The three delegates from S.C.’s 6th Congressional District are yet to be awarded. Trump has to get 1,215 out of the 2,429 delegates needed to win, and he’s already collected almost nine percent of those.
The polls never looked good for the former governor. As of February 23, she was behind Trump by 23.3 points, 60.8-37.5
Early last week, Trump’s campaign rolled out a memo, as The Hill and other media reported, predicting that “the end is near for Nikki Haley”:
Of course, like any wailing loser hell-bent on an alternative reality and refusing to come to grips with her imminent political mortality, we should expect more references to Kings and Coronations — even though the results of 5 elections overwhelmingly sent an unmistaken message: Nikki Haley doesn’t represent Republicans any more than Joe Biden does.
But Haley, apparently unaware of political reality, vowed to keep fighting, and complained that two old men were running for president.
“South Carolina will vote on Saturday, but on Sunday I will still be running for president,” the five-time loser said. “Trump and Biden are two old men who are only getting older. Nearly 60 percent of Americans say Trump and Biden are both too old to be president. Because they are.”
She also claimed that “Democrats are getting weaker by holding a coronation for Biden,” but that “Republicans will get stronger through a vigorous competition.”
The problem is, the competition isn’t “vigorous.” Haley is so far behind she’s not even choking on Trump’s exhaust fumes.
What’s Ahead
Trump delivered his victory speech with characteristic brio, but didn’t bash Haley. He did mention that she lost the Nevada primary to “none of these candidates.”
It was “an even a bigger win than we anticipated,” he said, noting that he pulled “double the number of votes that have ever received … a record times two.”
Then he turned to President Joe Biden’s illegal-alien invasion at the southwest border:
You see millions and millions of people coming across the border illegally. We don’t know where they come from. They come from jails. They come from prisons. They come from all sorts of places.… They come from mental institutions and insane asylums and we don’t want that in our country. We’re not going to stand for it.… You have terrorists coming in.… No country could sustain what’s happening to the United States of America.… The border is the worst it’s ever been.
Haley apparently thinks she still has a chance of beating the former president and won’t quit the race. “Everyone wants to bring back the America we know and love,” she told supporters:
That’s the underlying message of what happened today.… America will come apart if we make the wrong choices…. I said earlier this week that no matter what happens in South Carolina, I would continue to run for president. I’m a woman of my word.… I’m not giving up this fight when a majority of Americans disapprove of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
Michigan voters head to the polls on February 27, followed by caucuses on March 2, to award 16 and 39 delegates respectively. Idaho and Missouri vote on March 2.
Republicans vote in Washington, D.C., on March 3, and in North Dakota on March 4. Then follows March 5’s delegate-rich Super Tuesday primaries that include 15 states and American Samoa. If Haley is still in the race, she’ll fight Trump for 874 delegates.
As of four days ago, Trump led Haley in the RealClearPolitics Average of polls 74.8-16.9, a whopping 57.9 margin.
The chances of Haley’s defeating Trump are about zero.
