UPDATE: Just minutes after networks projected him the winner of the South Carolina primary, Donald Trump took the stage at his celebration in Columbia, S.C.
His move — heading off Nikki Haley before she could speak to her supporters — is a contrast to what happened in New Hampshire last month. Haley delivered a speech to her backers in which she sounded victorious, even though she was in second place. That irked Trump, to the point that he devoted most of his speech that night to attacking her and even her outfit.
The three major news networks carried at least portions of Trump’s speech, although MSNBC cut away as the former president called on some of his supporters to also make remarks. CNN also cut away moments later, shortly after Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) spoke to the crowd after receiving resounding boos.
“RIP the Reagan GOP,” said commentator Alyssa Farah, who was in the Trump administration. “There is something so jarring about watching Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, all of whom condemned him after January 6, lining up to do their best campaign rally impersonation.”
PREVIOUSLY: Donald Trump was projected to handily win the South Carolina primary tonight, defeating his last remaining rival in the race for the Republican nomination, Nikki Haley.
Haley, the former governor of the state, has stayed in the race even as pundits give her scant chance of defeating the former president. Earlier this week, she vowed to stay in the race at least through Super Tuesday next month. She has stepped up her attacks on Trump in recent weeks, to the delight of many Democrats.
Given the polls showing him with lopsided support in the state, Trump’s victory was no surprise. And as networks revealed the results of exit poll questions in the hours before polls closed, it looked as it he had the ingredients for a blowout.
Cable news and networks news streaming channels all carried special coverage of the primary, even if there was little suspense over the outcome, and the main question was whether the race would be called right at 7 p.m. ET when polls closed. They did.
On CNN, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) did not call on Haley to drop out, but said, “She’s a friend. I want her to be part of the future of the Republican party.” Asked by Dana Bash whether she would have a future if she does not drop out, he said, “Not really. The sooner we come together, the better.”
But some Trump allies have pressured her to drop out. After Haley said in a speech earlier this week that she had no need to “kiss the ring,” Steven Cheung, spokesman for the Trump campaign, wrote on X/Twitter, “She’s going to drop down to kiss ass when she quits, like she always does.”
The South Carolina exit polls showed a highly favorable environment for Trump: The electorate was 69% Republican and just 21% independent, a contrast to New Hampshire, which Haley also lost, per CNN. A whopping 65% of South Carolina voters do not believe that Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election, as Trump presses his unfounded case that the election was stolen from him despite a lack of evidence.
According to AdImpact, as of Wednesday, about $14 million was spent in South Carolina supporting Haley, compared to $1.3 million for Trump.
On NBC News Now, Garrett Haake tried to explain Trump’s dominance. “Donald Trump, at least in the context of a Republican primary, is a movement. He’s a star. I mean, yes, he’s a politician, but that’s not the point. People feel like they are a part of something when they attend his rallies and when they come to these events. And frankly, even when they’re asked to defend things he says, that might be offensive to other people, they’re on the team and there’s a sense of connection that exists there.”
The Biden campaign has been focused on Trump as the likely nominee for some time, and in recent days the former president has given them plenty of fodder. The president’s re-election campaign quickly highlighted Trump’s remarks at an event in Columbia, SC, when he told a gathering of Black conservative supporters that “the Black population” embraced his mugshot “more than anybody else.” “It’s pretty amazing,” Trump said.
