As Donald Trump claimed victory in New Hampshire on Tuesday evening, he criticized Nikki Haley for remaining in the Republican presidential race. He called her a “fraud” and claimed she had a “very bad night.”
“We beat them so badly,” he told his cheering supporters.
He also pointed out that Haley placed third in the Iowa caucuses last week. And he noted that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who finished second in Iowa, has already left the race and endorsed him.
“Ron beat her too.” He came second and left. “She came third and is still holding up,” he complained.
“In life you can’t let people get away with cops,” he said. “You just can't do that.” Watching her dress up, it probably wasn't like that. I asked, 'What is she doing?' We won.'
Trump ranted in his speech despite winning the Republican primary in New Hampshire and increasing his influence on the GOP presidential nomination. His supporters cheered him on, calling Haley “birdbrain,” while Haley's campaign said his “rant” was evidence that voters wanted to put his “mess” behind them.
“This is not a typical victory speech, but let's not let anyone take victory when she had a very bad night.” “She had a very bad night,” the former president said of Haley, who outperformed polls that predicted had that she would lose by a larger margin.
President Donald Trump railed against Nikki Haley for remaining in the presidential race at his late-night primary victory party
The former president, 77, is now moving closer to a renewed duel with Joe Biden in the November 2024 general election after winning his second election campaign in eight days.
The Associated Press called the race shortly after polls closed at 8 p.m. ET. The victory came about a week after his victory in the Iowa caucuses. Trump is the first Republican candidate in nearly 50 years to win both elections, a sign of his iron grip on the Republican Party. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden won the Democratic primary despite not voting in New Hampshire.
But Trump spent most of his victory speech railing against Haley, making comments that marked a notable turnaround from his speech in Iowa last week in which he called for unity among Republicans.
Instead, he blamed New Hampshire's Republican governor, Chris Sununu, for letting Democrats vote in the Republican primary.
The majority of New Hampshire voters are independent and can vote in any primary they choose. State law allows voters registered with a party to switch to an independent party to vote in a primary of their choice. However, there was an October deadline to make the change.
Haley won independent voters on Tuesday.
“You have a governor who frankly doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing in this state,” Trump complained. “In the Republican primaries, they also accept Democrats.”
“They're just voting because they want me to look as bad as possible because if you remember, we won in 2016, and if you really remember and want to be clear about it, we won in 2020 too.”
However, he didn't let Haley up and called her a “fraud” for claiming the victory.
“I said I can go up and say to everyone, thank you for the win, it's wonderful, or I can go up and say, who the hell was that impostor who went on stage before and got a victory, so to speak has?” ? Actually, she did it very badly. She had to win. The governor said she would win, but then she failed miserably.'
Haley congratulated Trump on his victory in her remarks in New Hampshire, but vowed to remain in the Republican presidential race.
And her campaign said Trump's “rant” was the reason voters wanted an alternative choice.
“Two states have now voted in the presidential race, and Donald Trump barely received half the votes — not exactly a clear endorsement for a former president demanding a coronation,” said Haley communications director Nachama Soloveichik.
“His angry rant was full of grievances and conveyed nothing to the American people about his vision for our country's future. “That's why so many voters want to get out of Trump's mess and join Nikki Haley's new generation of conservative leadership.”
However, Trump didn't let Haley up. She served as his ambassador to the United Nations during his presidency.
“I don’t get too angry, I return the favor,” Trump said.
Nikki Haley congratulated Donald Trump on his victory on Tuesday
“We will win this.” We have no choice. If we don't win, I think our country is finished. I do. “I think our country is finished,” said Donald Trump
Donald Trump with son Eric and daughter-in-law Lara on stage
Donald Trump hugs Vivek Ramaswamy (l) and Senator Tim Scott (right) as he leaves the stage while Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene waves to the crowd
The former president also warned Haley that she would not win, and if she did, she would also be under federal investigation. Trump has falsely claimed to be the victim of a federal witch hunt based on the lawsuits against him.
“Just a little note to Nikki, she's not going to win. “But if she did, these people would be investigating her in 15 minutes,” he said, adding, “Same with Ron.” [DeSantis] been there, but he decided to get out. He decided to get out.'
He ended his remarks by saying, “We will win this.” We have no choice. If we don't win, I think our country is finished. I do. I think our country is finished.'
Trump and his team used his victories to pressure Nikki Haley to drop out of the presidential campaign.
Trump's campaign used his victory to call on Haley to drop out, accusing her of helping Joe Biden and Kamala Harris by staying in the race.
“Nikki Haley said she's running to stop Harris-Biden from being re-elected.” But without a viable path to victory, every day she stays in this race is another day she faces Harris-Biden. campaign serves well. “It’s time for unity, it’s time to take the fight to the Democrats, and for Nikki Haley: it’s time to get out,” Taylor Budowich, CEO of Make America Great Again Inc., said in a statement.
However, Haley has vowed to keep fighting, declaring after Trump's victory that the race is “not over yet.”
“I want to congratulate Donald Trump on his victory tonight.” He deserves it, and I want to acknowledge that. You've all heard the talk in the political class. “They're falling over themselves and saying this race is over,” she said at her party on the night of the primary.
“It’s not over yet!” she declared to cheers from her supporters.
“New Hampshire is first in the nation.” It is not last in the nation. This race is far from over. There are dozens more states to leave.'
According to the CNN exit poll, Nikki Haley won IKndependents voters over Trump 61-37%. She has used her strength among them to argue that there is a strong part of the party that wants an alternative to the former president.
Former President Donald Trump speaks to his supporters in New Hampshire
Senator Tim Scott attended Trump's primary night party in New Hampshire
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene celebrates at Trump's primary night event after he was named the official winner of the New Hampshire Republican primary
Early Tuesday, before polls closed, the former president shrugged it off.
“I don’t care if she stays home. Let her do whatever she wants, it doesn’t matter,” Trump said of Haley while campaigning in Londonderry on Tuesday afternoon.
However, after the results came in and Haley vowed to move on, Trump used his Truth Social account to rail against his Republican rival.
He raged in a series of posts making his point in all caps: “Haley said she had to WIN in New Hampshire. 'SHE DIDN'T!!!.'
“Craziness!!!”
“She came third last week!”
“She just lost Nevada, what’s next!”
Because of a quirk in Nevada's caucus rules, Trump and Ron DeSantis, who has already dropped out of the race, are on the ballot in that state. The next competitive race will be in Haley's home state of South Carolina.
Donald Trump Jr. argued Monday that Haley has no path forward and should get out. Other Trump surrogates have also pushed for her departure.
“I think we're going to see the end of the primary, hopefully later tonight,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said Tuesday morning as she campaigned for Trump at the Red Arrow Diner in Manchester. “It would be a good choice for Nikki Haley if she leaves after this election. 'She's not going to be well.'
And the Biden campaign used Trump's victory to declare him the nominee.
“Tonight’s results confirm that Donald Trump has all but secured the GOP nomination and the election-denying, anti-freedom MAGA movement has completed its takeover of the Republican Party,” campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement.
“As we work toward November 2024, one thing is becoming increasingly clear today: Donald Trump is about to face a campaign in which he will face the only person who has ever beaten him at the ballot box: Joe Biden,” she said.
Most polling places in New Hampshire closed at 7:00 p.m. and all polling places closed at 8:00 p.m. As soon as the screens announced his victory in Trump's primary, his supporters went wild, chanting “USA, USA” and throwing their red MAGA hats in the air.
Former Rep. George Santos at the Trump Primary Night Party in New Hampshire
Vivek Ramaswamy and Kari Lake handle the media dispute in Trump's primary party
Hopeful Nikki Halye supporters at her election night party
Trump hosts his election night party at the Sheraton Hotel in Nashua, New Hampshire. Before the polls closed, the mood was cheerful as campaign workers mingled with guests. There was an open bar and snacks.
Eric Trump and his wife Lara joined the campaign team for dinner at the hotel restaurant. On the way out they met Vivek Ramaswamy and stopped for a powpow. Kari Lake works in the press department and talks about Trump's campaign. Standing in line at the bar was former Rep. George Santos. Senator Tim Scott worked in the room.
Other guests took photos against a backdrop of flags while giant television screens showed the cable news channels as the countdown to the results began.
About 40% of registered voters in New Hampshire are unaffiliated and can vote in both primaries.
With the victory on Tuesday evening and his victory in the Iowa caucuses last Monday, Trump set a new record.
He was the first Republican presidential candidate to win open races in Iowa and New Hampshire since both states topped the electoral calendar in 1976.
The victories show his grip on the party and cast even greater doubt on Haley's ability to rein in it, even as an Associated Press poll found more voters in New Hampshire had doubts about Trump than voters in Iowa.
About half of Republican voters in New Hampshire said they were very or somewhat concerned about Trump being too extreme to win the general election. Only about a third said the same about Haley.
Trump was ahead by double digits in the polls in the run-up to Election Day. But Haley argues that there is a large group of independent voters who do not want to vote for the former president.
“Approximately 50 percent of Republican primary voters want an alternative to Donald Trump.” “75 percent of the country wants an option other than Donald Trump and Joe Biden,” her campaign wrote in a memo Tuesday morning.
They point to the Iowa caucuses as proof of their argument.
According to the results, the 110,000 voters who participated in Iowa's 2024 primary represented nearly 15% of the state's 752,000 registered Republicans. And that's a far smaller number than the 186,000 that came out in 2016.
But Trump's one-two victories are leading to a growing sense of inevitability that the 2024 general election will be a repeat of the 2020 contest: Trump vs. Biden. Polls show that most Americans don't want a rematch, even if the country is headed toward a rematch.
Eric Trump and Lara Trump speak with Vivek Ramaswamy as they await the New Hampshire results
Donald Trump is ahead by double digits in the polls ahead of the New Hampshire primaries
Nikki Haley vowed to stay in the race: “New Hampshire is first in the nation.” It's not last in the nation. This race is far from over. There are dozens more states to leave.'
After winning the Iowa caucuses by 30 points, former President Trump called on the Republican Party to unite behind his candidacy.
Many Republican presidential candidates dropped out of the race and endorsed him: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Trump will head west after the Nevada primary. He is also still involved in the libel trial of Jean Carroll in New York.
Haley has announced she will hold a campaign rally in Charleston on Wednesday, a day after the New Hampshire primary and before the South Carolina primary. Haley's home state will host its nominating contest a month from now on February 24.