CNN
—
Twelve hours after Donald Trump predicted his near sweep of Super Tuesday states would lead to unity “very quickly” in the Republican Party, the former president delivered a parting shot to his last remaining rival for the GOP nomination. On his social media site Truth Social, he called some of Nikki Haley’s supporters “radical left Democrats” and dismissed her Vermont victory the day before as less than legitimate.
“I hope she stays in the ‘race’ and fights it out until the end!” he added.
But by then, the former South Carolina governor was no longer in the race. A minute prior, Haley had suspended her presidential campaign, making Trump the presumptive Republican nominee on his way to a rematch with President Joe Biden.
As he emerges victorious from the Republican primary race, Trump faces considerable challenges both inside and outside the political arena. He is fighting to delay four criminal trials until after the November election, a battle that is headed to the US Supreme Court next month. Mounting legal bills and more than half a billion dollars in judgments against him have threatened his personal and campaign finances.
But chief among his priorities as a candidate over the next eight months will be rallying disenchanted Republicans around his third White House bid. Trump’s team is keenly aware of how polarizing their candidate is, and that every vote will count in what is expected to be a highly competitive general election rematch. Wednesday’s inauspicious start to Trump’s outreach efforts is reflective of the longstanding concerns about his temperament and style that inspired many Republicans to support Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other candidates over the former president.
Haley in her concession speech withheld an endorsement and instead encouraged Trump to “earn the vote” of those who supported her.
“This is now his time for choosing,” Haley said.
In cruising to his party’s nomination, Trump left little doubt that he remains the dominant figure in the GOP. Keeping to a remarkably light campaign schedule throughout much of 2023, Trump vanquished with relative ease a field that included his former vice president (Mike Pence), his first ambassador to the United Nations (Haley), a one-time protégé (DeSantis), a top congressional ally (Tim Scott) and the man who spearheaded his first presidential transition team (Chris Christie), among others. The historically swift primary race delivered an outcome that appeared inevitable since Trump seized control of the lead last summer.
With the outcome all-but certain, Trump largely pivoted to the general election weeks ago. Mentions of Haley at rallies and on social media have grown increasingly rare as he instead focused on Biden and the issues he intends to build his campaign around, namely immigration. On Wednesday, Trump challenged Biden to debate “ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE.”
Meanwhile, sewing up the nomination by early March gives Trump access to the Republican National Committee’s voluminous data on its voters far sooner than his 2016 campaign, as well as its fundraising infrastructure and ground operation. These resources are critical to Trump’s campaign as they make plans to build out their teams in key battleground states like Michigan, Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania in the coming weeks and months.
The full support of the RNC – which after this week is likely to include leaders…
This article was originally published by a amp.cnn.com . Read the Original article here. .