US presidential election 2024: “Joe, you're fired!”, Trump wins the primary in South Carolina and already sees himself in the White House

Donald Trump, cette nuit en Caroline du Sud, après la fermeture des bureaux de vote. XinHua – Aaron Schwartz

L'ancien président américain a survolé un scrutin qui paraît décisif. Il a battu sa seule adversaire dans l'Etat dont elle fut jadis la gouverneure. 

Donald Trump easily won the Republican primary on Saturday in the state of South Carolina, in the southeast of the United States, according to projections from the Edison Research institute, which further strengthens his status favorite for the Party's nomination for the presidential election next November. Although Nikki Haley, the former president's only national opponent, served as governor of South Carolina between 2011 and 2017, it was Donald Trump who was favorite to win the state election. "I have, until now, never seen the Republican Party so united,"said Donald Trump in a speech given to his supporters a few minutes after the polls closed and in which Nikki Haley was not mentioned.

Nearly 60% of the votes

Already an easy winner in previous elections, Donald Trump was in the lead in the polls for the primary in South Carolina, even though he is the target of several legal proceedings. This result should further strengthen calls from some Republicans, who are asking Nikki Haley to withdraw her candidacy and thus allow the party to rally around Donald Trump. According to the Edison Research Institute, Donald Trump is credited with 59.7% of the votes and Nikki Haley with 39.7% after the counting of almost half of the ballots.

Nikki Haley doesn't give up

The former United States ambassador to the United Nations reaffirmed on Saturday that she would maintain her candidacy at least until "Super Tuesday&quot ;, which will see Republican voters vote on the same day in 15 states and one territory. "We must beat Joe Biden in November", she told her supporters, gathered in the city of Charleston, after the announcement of Donald Trump's victory. "I don't think Donald Trump can beat Joe Biden." Nikki Haley argued that her result showed that the former president still made many Republicans uncomfortable.

Judicial appointments

However, there is no evidence that Republican voters are interested in a candidate other than the former tenant of the White House to wear their Republican colors in the presidential election. An exit poll by Edison Research shows that many voters who participated in the Republican primary in South Carolina on Saturday are concerned about immigration issues, a subject that Donald Trump has made central of his campaign, and the economy. Nearly a third of them, however, believed that Donald Trump would be unfit to serve if convicted, according to Edison Research. Donald Trump is scheduled to appear in a criminal trial in New York on March 25. He is mainly accused of having violated electoral laws by having falsified business documents before the 2016 presidential election to conceal the payment of $130,000 to Stormy Daniels in order to buy the silence of the 2016 presidential election. ;former pornographic actress, who claimed to have had an affair with him a decade earlier.

Restructuring

However, the ex-president is already planning his duel with the outgoing president, as if he considered that the primary was already over. In his speech, he did not even have a word for his opponent Nikki Haley, targeting his attacks on Joe Biden. "Joe, you're fired !", he said, referring to his favorite slogan which made him popular in a reality TV show. His team is already in the process of restructuring the leadership of the Republican Party, to make it a war machine in the run-up to the presidential election.