As of: January 27, 2024, 4:28 p.m
By: Nail Akkoyun
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In the fight for the presidential candidacy, Nikki Haley has to assert herself against Donald Trump.
Your next move has to turn the tide - there isn't much time left.
Washington, DC - After the first two primaries in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, Nikki Haley doesn't want to admit defeat yet.
After coming third in Iowa and second in New Hampshire, the 52-year-old is now relying on her home advantage in the US state of South Carolina, where her party is holding its primary election on February 24th.
There, the former governor wants to continue to stand up to her competitor Donald Trump.
She is hoping for the votes of all those conservative voters who cannot identify with Trump's right-wing populism - but even in New Hampshire, which is considered moderate, Haley was left behind.
Now the tone is getting rougher, and Haley is now increasingly speaking out against Trump, who appointed her US ambassador to the UN despite her lack of international experience.
Haley attacks Biden and Trump: “America can do better”
“Whether deserved or not, chaos follows,” she repeated in recent weeks, alluding to the numerous charges against Trump.
“We will not survive four more years of chaos,” she emphasized, presenting herself as a “leader of a new generation.”
In a recent television interview, she questioned Trump's mental state and described the 77-year-old as "deteriorating."
Just on Friday, the former US president was sentenced to pay compensation of $83.3 million (around 77 million euros) in a defamation trial.
The American author E. Jean Carroll sued again.
At the end of the first trial in May, a New York jury found it proven that Trump had attacked Carroll in a luxury New York department store in 1996, sexually abused him and later slandered him.
Nikki Haley used the verdict for her election campaign: “Donald Trump wants to be the presumptive Republican candidate and we are talking about $83 million in damages,” Haley wrote on the online platform X, formerly Twitter.
“America can do better than Donald Trump and Joe Biden.”
Republican Nikki Haley at a campaign rally in North Charleston, South Carolina.
© Allison Joyce/AFP
Trump threatens Haley after victory in New Hampshire: “I’ll pay her back”
Trump himself has been calling Haley a “brainhead” for months.
He apparently sees it as an lese majeste that she has gone back on her promise not to run against him in 2024.
After his win in New Hampshire, he fired a tirade at Haley for not conceding defeat.
“I’ll get back at her,” he threatened.
He went on to call her a “globalist,” even though Haley represents very classic conservative positions.
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Trump, however, accuses her of wanting to “increase taxes, drain the social system” or “open the borders” - without providing any evidence.
In fact, Trump's and Haley's programs hardly differ - only when it comes to Ukraine, which Haley wants to continue to provide massive support against the Russian war, while Trump boasts that he can mediate between Kiev and Moscow.
Trump's chances are good: Haley has to worry about his own campaign
The only woman in the race for the Republican presidential nomination from the start, Haley was also more moderate on the issue of abortion than her rivals within the party.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the nation's constitutional right to abortion, the issue has brought a series of disappointing election results for Republicans.
Haley promotes a “national consensus” and wants to ban “late-term abortions,” but also opposes prison sentences for abortions in states with abortion bans.
From the start, Nikki Haley was only given outsider chances in the fight against Donald Trump.
After his first triumphs in the Republican primaries, ex-President Trump already sees himself as his party's guaranteed candidate.
If Haley ultimately doesn't come out on top in her home state, her campaign seems hopeless - also because millionaire donors would probably no longer want to cover the costs of the election campaign.
Russ Muirhead, a politics professor at Dartmouth College, told the
Agence France-Presse (AFP)
press agency that Haley only had until the end of February: "If Haley can't hold her own against Trump in South Carolina, her race is over.
" /AFP)