Donald Trump was in a hurry to set up a duel with Biden, inflicting a heavy defeat on his last Republican rival, Nikki Haley, in the South Carolina primary on Saturday.
The setback is all the more cruel for the 50-year-old, who represents a more moderate wing of the Republican Party, because it comes in the state of which she was governor for six years. However, she refused to throw in the towel.
In a sign that the ex-president no longer even sees Ms. Haley as a threat, Donald Trump has targeted the current master of the White House in his first victorious statements.
“Joe (Biden), you're fired!” he started from Columbia, the state capital, with his favorite slogan from the era of reality TV sets.
Before him was a gathering of his supporters who erupted in cheers and applause.
As in the four previous elections in which the Republican candidate was nominated for the presidential election in November, the former American president was merciless.
Donald Trump's victory was predicted by the American media just a few seconds after the polls closed – even if the exact margin was not yet known.
Despite his legal problems, some of which put him at risk of imprisonment, the stormy septuagenarian is, according to all polls, the right-wing candidate's most popular candidate.
The result of the primary election is clear, analyzes David Darmofal, political scientist at the University of South Carolina, for AFP:
“This shows that he is now effectively the Republican presidential nominee. The speed of this result likely increases pressure on them to withdraw from the race.
Haley refuses to give up
Donald Trump is hoping to force his former UN ambassador to throw in the towel so he can focus his attacks on Democrat Joe Biden, who is seeking a second term in November.
But Nikki Haley, 52, is holding out and refusing to give up the race for the Republican nomination for now.
“I’m not giving up this fight,” she told her supporters at a rally in Charleston, pledging to continue “fighting for America.”
The plea from this woman, the only Republican in the race, is simple: “We will not survive four more years of Trump chaos.”
Nikki Haley took advantage of new controversial comments from her rival and harshly criticized him on Saturday. He remained bogged down in the cases and suggested that his charges made him a sympathetic candidate in the eyes of black voters.
“This is the chaos that accompanies Donald Trump, and these types of offensive comments will continue every day until the election,” Nikki Haley said.
Donald Trump's team is brushing aside his argument.
After Saturday, the two rivals should therefore compete against each other on Tuesday in Michigan.
Then, Republicans from Idaho, Missouri and North Dakota will take turns voting, a well-orchestrated ballet that will lead the candidates to one of the biggest political meetings of the year, Super Tuesday.
On March 5, around fifteen states, including Texas, California, Colorado and Virginia, will hold their elections simultaneously on a key election day.
The primaries could theoretically last until July. But according to the polls, Nikki Haley is not the favorite in any of her states and the Trump team is already predicting a victory “by March 19th at the latest.”
So why is she still in the running?
“She is waiting to see whether Trump is taken out of the game by a court decision or a health problem,” political scientist Larry Sabato told AFP.
The first criminal trial against Donald Trump begins on March 25th.