Presidential candidacy: Clear the way for Trump candidacy – Haley drops out

Republican Nikki Haley is officially withdrawing from the party’s internal race for the US presidency, clearing the way for former incumbent Donald Trump to run again. The 52-year-old announced her decision in her home state of South Carolina after Trump had a winning streak on Super Tuesday and won almost all of the votes.

This is a new edition of the duel between Trump and the current Democratic US President Joe Biden, who wants to run for a second term and has no serious internal competition in his party.

Polls predict that the race between Trump and Biden is likely to be close. If Trump wins the election, his policies are likely to become much more extreme. Further US support for Ukraine, which is being attacked by Russia, is then at stake in foreign policy terms, as is US membership in important international alliances such as NATO.

Anyone who wants to become the Republican or Democratic presidential candidate in the USA must first win the party’s internal primaries. The presidential candidates will not be officially chosen until party conferences in the summer. The actual presidential election is finally taking place on November 5th.

Victory in Vermont and Washington DC – Symbolic success for Haley

On Super Election Day on Tuesday, the Republicans held primaries in 15 states, all of which Trump won with one exception. Haley scored a small surprise victory in the northeastern state of Vermont, as he did before in the liberal capital district of Washington. However, this was hardly significant in terms of numbers and was therefore only a symbolic success in an otherwise rather hopeless race.

Trump easily won the remaining primaries and was also the clear favorite for the remaining votes. Haley – the former US ambassador to the United Nations, who represented Trump’s foreign policy in the first years of his presidency – has now given up in view of his dominance in the race.

This means that Trump has already been confirmed as his party’s presidential candidate before the end of the primaries, even if his official nomination at the Republican nomination party conference in Milwaukee in mid-July is still pending. Since Biden is also considered the Democratic candidate regardless of the primary election procedure, the two will compete against each other for the second time in November – unless one of them unexpectedly drops out for other reasons.

Biden is courting her supporters after Haley’s withdrawal

US President Joe Biden has recruited her supporters after Nikki Haley withdrew from the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Former President Donald Trump made it clear that he did not want Haley’s supporters, the Democrat said. Biden said he wanted to make it clear that there was a place for her in his campaign. “I know we don’t agree on a lot of things.” But common ground can be found on the fundamental questions of preserving US democracy, advocating for the rule of law, treating one another with decency, dignity and respect, or preserving NATO.

“I know that Democrats, Republicans and independents have different opinions on many issues and have strong convictions,” the 81-year-old continued. “But I also know: What unites Democrats, Republicans and independents is the love of America.” Few in the current Republican Party would have the courage to stand up to Trump. Nikki Haley was ready to tell the truth about the 77-year-old Republican. Chaos would follow Trump, he would not be able to distinguish right from wrong and would kowtow to Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.

Numerous lawsuits against Trump

In the middle of the election year, Trump is facing four criminal proceedings over various serious allegations. Among other things, he must answer in court for his attempts to subsequently reverse the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. However, it is questionable whether there could be a legally binding verdict in any of the court cases by the election date. And even a conviction would not per se prevent Trump from contesting the election.

If Trump ultimately stumbles over one of the criminal proceedings and is no longer a presidential candidate, Haley could theoretically return as her party’s Plan B. As with other presidential candidates who have left the race, their election campaign is technically only suspended and could be revived in case of doubt. The fact that she stayed in the race for so long despite more than meager prospects also suggests that she wanted to sharpen her profile.

Biden challenged the then-President in the 2020 election and won the vote. To this day, however, the Republican refuses to admit his defeat and has since then spread unwavering and unfounded claims that he was deprived of a victory through massive electoral fraud. Trump’s campaign against the election result culminated in an unprecedented outbreak of violence: on January 6, 2021, Trump supporters stormed the parliament building in the capital Washington. The attack on the heart of US democracy did not prevent Trump from making a comeback – nor did the many other scandals during his term in office from 2017 to 2021.

According to surveys, many Americans are not very enthusiastic about another duel between Trump and Biden in the presidential election in November, also because of their age. Biden is 81 years old, Trump is 77.