There is now almost no doubt about the nomination of Donald Trump.
South Carolina is its fifth consecutive victory since the start of the primary cycle.
After the Iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire primaries, the Nevada and Virgin Islands caucuses and primaries, Trump is inexorably approaching the threshold of a majority of delegates.
His rivals were almost all eliminated, dropping out one after the other.
The South Carolina primary, the first to be held in a southern state, is traditionally a reliable bellwether for Republicans, with the winner almost always being the party's future nominee.
Nikki Haley, who obtained 39% of the vote, has pledged to stay in the race at least until the primaries on March 5, Super Tuesday, where they take place simultaneously in around fifteen states and where more than a third of the 2429 delegates.
“
I said at the beginning of the week that no matter what happens in South Carolina, I will continue my candidacy for president
,” Haley told supporters after the initial results were announced.
“
I am a woman of my word.
I will not give up this fight when a majority of Americans disapprove of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden
.”
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She announced that she will go directly to Michigan for the next primary, Tuesday February 27.
But if she continues to bring together a part of the conservative electorate, and if she still has substantial funds from major donors to the Republican Party, Haley has failed to undermine Trump's domination.
The former president did almost no campaigning in South Carolina, appearing only for a few large rallies.
Nikki Haley, for her part, traveled the state, meeting numerous times with voters, sometimes giving several speeches per day, playing on her knowledge of the field.
“Donald Trump will not win the general election”
She also toughened her attacks against Trump.
As if she was campaigning as a third candidate, she sends him back to back with Joe Biden, calling for a generational change, and to make way for a succession that she obviously intends to embody.
She criticized Trump, recalling that he sows chaos and division, his hostile statements on NATO, his attacks against her husband, a soldier deployed in Africa with the National Guard, or his ambiguous comments on Vladimir Putin.
She recalled her own successes as governor of South Carolina, her experience in foreign policy acquired as United States ambassador to the United Nations.
And insisted on the fact that Trump aroused massive rejection, and that she would have more chances than him against Joe Biden in the election.
“
Donald Trump is not going to win the general election
,” she said recently on CNN, “
you can make him win all the primaries you want, he is not going to win the general election.”
We will have a woman president of the United States;
it will either be me or Kamala Harris
,” the Democratic vice president.
But no argument seemed to have any traction during this campaign that was almost written in advance.
Trump voters remain indifferent to all attacks, blindly supporting everything their champion does or says.
Even Trump's numerous indictments, far from eroding the support of his supporters, have helped to strengthen his popularity, unite the ranks around him, and increase contributions to his campaign.
Trump also saw the entire Republican Party apparatus in South Carolina rally around, out of conviction, opportunism or resignation.
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Embodying a Republican party in the process of being replaced by its MAGA version, Haley even appeared at odds with Republican opinion, less and less in tune with the rather classic conservatism that she represents.
Although a majority of voters in South Carolina, a state with many military personnel and their families, remain in favor of the United States' presence in NATO, a majority is now reluctant to continue aid to Ukraine in his fight against Russia, one of the recurring themes of Trump's campaign.
The primary continues Tuesday in Michigan, then next week with Super Tuesday.
But Trump's inauguration, now almost inevitable, should precipitate the confrontation with Joe Biden, the outgoing president.