Donald Trump Defeats Nikki Hailey And Shifts Focus to Contest Against Joe Biden: "It's Over"

Former President Donald Trump celebrated his run of victories on Super Tuesday election results night, as he defeated GOP candidate Nikki Haley. He spoke to a crowded ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, filled with hundreds of his fans and supporters, with his plans for the next contest with President Joe Biden.

On Tuesday, the most significant day for the primaries, Trump won almost every state that was up for grabs, except one that was swept over with Haley fever, per Financial Times. But even with her 2 state primary win, Trump trounced her badly, raking up hundreds of delegates, which will help him secure his party's formal presidential nomination.

"They call it Super Tuesday for a reason," the former president bragged from a podium flanked by a dozen American flags. "This is a big one. They tell me, the pundits and otherwise, that there's never been one like this. There's never been anything so conclusive."

“For all intents and purposes, it's over. It's over and then some,” Jim McLaughlin, Trump's longtime pollster, said of Haley's loss. “The Republicans are united. They are behind Donald Trump.” Mike Murphy, a Republican campaign consultant, said that “mathematically, it’s over for Nikki Haley”, but added that her refusal to back down until the end means “she’s put on the most entertaining dead cat bounce in American politics.”

As early as next week, Trump may surpass the 1,215 delegate mark, providing him the necessary votes to be formally declared the GOP's nominee at this summer's Republican National Convention. Now that he is focused on the race against Biden, Trump spent most of his brief speech platforming issues he will use against the president in the upcoming months, such as immigration, rising inflation, and international wars. 

Haley declared that she had no regrets when she announced the end of her presidential campaign the morning following Super Tuesday, per The Guardian. “The time has now come to suspend my campaign,” Haley said, announcing her decision during a three-minute speech in Charleston, South Carolina. “It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond who did not support him and I hope he does that,” Haley said, quoting Margaret Thatcher. 

Trump, being a sore winner, slammed Haley on Truth Social posts, claiming she got trounced "in record-setting fashion," defaming both her and her voters, per Business Insider. "Much of her money came from Radical Left Democrats, as did many of her voters, almost 50%, according to the polls," Trump wrote. 

In contrast, Biden commended Haley for her "courage" in pursuing the Republican nomination although she was aware that doing so would probably infuriate Trump loyalists. “Nikki Haley was willing to speak the truth about Trump: about the chaos that always follows him, about his inability to see right from wrong, about his cowering before Vladimir Putin,” Biden said. Addressing Haley's supporters, Biden remarked, “There is a place for them in my campaign.”

He continued, “I know there is a lot we won’t agree on,” but tried to appeal to the “fundamental issues of preserving American democracy, standing up for the rule of law, treating each other with decency, dignity and respect.”