To Donald Trump’s great ire, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley stuck out her presidential campaign through Super Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Trump took to his right-wing social media platform, Truth Social, to dismiss Haley’s campaign and her performance in Vermont, the only state to hand her a primary victory, in an on-again, off-again flirtation with the caps lock button. The Truth Social post was made prior to Haley withdrawing from the Republican presidential primary.
“Nikki Haley got TROUNCED last night, in record setting fashion, despite the fact that Democrats, for reasons unknown, are allowed to vote in Vermont, and various other Republican Primaries,” he wrote.
Haley outperformed Trump in Vermont, earning 50.2% of the vote to Trump’s 45.9%.
Trump then baselessly claimed Haley’s campaign was primarily financed by “Radical Left Democrats” and that “almost 50%” of her voters identified as such, “according to the polls.”
“At this point, I hope she stays in the ‘race’ and fights it out until the end!” He continued. “I’d like to thank my family, friends, and the Great Republican Party for helping me to produce, by far, the most successful Super Tuesday in HISTORY, and would further like to invite all of the Haley supporters to join the greatest movement in the history of our Nation. BIDEN IS THE ENEMY, HE IS DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
Haley suspended her campaign Wednesday morning, congratulating Trump on the nomination ― but notably stopping short of endorsing him.
President Joe Biden struck a far different tone in his own remarks on the development and congratulated Haley for having the courage to “dare to speak the truth about Donald Trump.”
He then extended an olive branch to her supporters, whom Trump has repeatedly spurned.
“Donald Trump made it clear he doesn’t want Nikki Haley’s supporters,” Biden said in a statement. “I want to be clear: There is a place for them in my campaign. I know there is a lot we won’t agree on. But on the fundamental issues of preserving American democracy, on standing up for the rule of law, on treating each other with decency and dignity and respect, on preserving NATO and standing up to America’s adversaries, I hope and believe we can find common ground.”
Trump faces 91 criminal charges spanning four criminal cases for attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, illegally retaining hundreds of highly classified documents after he left office, and falsifying business records during the 2016 presidential election to conceal hush-money payments he made to two women with whom he allegedly had extramarital affairs.
Should the twice-impeached former president be reelected, and should his legal team successfully delay the trials in those cases until after the election, he’s widely expected to instruct the Department of Justice to drop the investigations into him.