(Washington) Donald Trump is heading straight towards a return match with Joe Biden in the presidential election, his last Republican rival Nikki Haley having according to the American media decided to throw in the towel after being heavily beaten during “Super Tuesday”.
The former American ambassador to the UN is preparing to end her campaign, reports Wednesday Wall Street Journal and CNN.
She is expected to announce her decision in a speech on Wednesday, around 10 a.m., from Charleston, the main city of the state of South Carolina of which she was governor, according to the major American business daily.
Former President Trump (2017-2021), candidate in the November election, won in almost all the states – 14 out of 15 – at stake during the big election day on Tuesday. Among them are California, North Carolina, Texas and Alaska.
Surrounded by his supporters gathered in his luxurious Florida residence, Donald Trump hailed “a wonderful evening, an incredible day”.
He didn’t mention Nikki Haley once, devoting all of his attacks to her likely presidential rival, Joe Biden.
The fifty-year-old, however, deprived Donald Trump, 77, of a grand slam by winning Vermont, a sparsely populated state bordering Canada.
“Destroy our democracy”
On the Democratic side, President Biden, 81, is seeking a second term and faces no serious opposition.
He unsurprisingly won on Tuesday in all the states at stake for his party, conceding an anecdotal defeat to an illustrious unknown in American Samoa, a Pacific territory.
Already launched, too, towards his expected duel with Donald Trump, Joe Biden assured that his rival was “determined to destroy our democracy”, accusing him of being “focused on his own revenge and revenge, not on the people American.”
The 2020 return match, which does not excite Americans according to polls, is almost confirmed, even if the Republican race is not officially over.
Since January 15 and despite his legal troubles, Donald Trump has won almost all the primaries organized by his party.
Nikki Haley presented herself as a candidate who would be able to restore “normality” in the face of “Trump’s chaos”. But most Republican voters are turning a deaf ear to his plea.
In a statement, his campaign team said there were still “a large number of Republican voters expressing deep concerns about Donald Trump.”
“Last Standing”
At the party organized at Mr. Trump’s house in Florida, the latter’s final victory was in no doubt.
In the Mar-a-Lago ballroom, under the huge chandeliers and golden ornaments, many guests proudly displayed their red caps stamped “Make America Great Again”.
“President Trump will be the last one standing in the Republican primary,” said Kenny Nail, the head of a local branch of the Republican Party.
Biden facing the Americans on Thursday
Donald Trump wants to be able to concentrate as soon as possible on his duel with President Biden, before being sucked into his legal meetings.
His first criminal trial begins on March 25 in New York.
Donald Trump claims to be “much more popular” since he was criminally charged four times, but many polls show that support for his candidacy would crumble considerably if he were convicted in one of these criminal cases .
Struggling in the polls, Joe Biden will defend his record and unfold his vision for America on Thursday in the traditional State of the Union speech to Congress.
The outgoing president “must use this last opportunity to address millions of Americans to present the contrast between his vision and what life will be like under Donald Trump,” said political scientist Wendy Schiller.