Donald Trump’s rival in the election of the US presidential candidate from the Republican Party, Nikki Haley, won the first, symbolic victory in a series of primaries.
Donald Trump’s triumphant march to the Republican presidential nomination has been halted in Washington. Nikki Haley won the majority of votes in Washington and DC.
Symbolic victory
Nearly 63% of Republicans in the capital district voted for Haley, 33% for Trump. Haley will receive the votes of all 19 electoral votes from the District of Columbia, giving her a total of 43 electoral votes. Trump has 247, and in total, during the primaries and caucuses, Republicans have chosen 2,429 delegates to the party convention, which will officially announce a presidential candidate in July.
The Trump campaign said it was not surprised by Haley’s victory in the “swamp,” as the former president and his followers in Washington call it.
“Nikki is deeply rejected across America, but DC lobbyists and insiders who want to preserve the failed status quo have just crowned her the Queen of the Swamp,” the Trump campaign said in a statement.
Nikki Haley’s press secretary, Olivia Perez-Cubas, said: “It’s no surprise that the Republicans closest to the problems in Washington are rejecting Donald Trump and the chaos he’s bringing.”
Donald Trump has confidently won all the previous primaries and caucuses, including in Nikki Haley’s home state of South Carolina, and this Tuesday he hopes to almost guarantee himself the presidential nomination.
What next?
On March 5, Super Tuesday, primaries and caucuses of both leading parties will be held in 15 states and one overseas territory. For Republicans, the fate of 874 electoral votes will be decided. Trump’s campaign predicts he will receive at least 773 of them.
“Analysts believe Nikki Haley is continuing to fight mainly in the hope that Trump will be forced out by his legal troubles or other circumstances, such as poor health,” AFP said.
Ctrump ouds
The US Supreme Court overturned a Colorado court’s decision to bar Trump from running for president in that state. This decision will apply nationwide – individual states will no longer be able to ban Trump from participating in elections.
“The decision of the Colorado Supreme Court cannot be upheld. All nine justices concur in this decision,” the Supreme Court said in its ruling.
Trump called the supreme court’s decision a major victory for the United States.
Colorado judges then ruled that he could not be placed on the Republican primary ballot as an official who had taken part in “rebellion or insurrection.”
They based their decision on the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which was adopted in 1868 after the end of the American Civil War. By a narrow 4-3 margin, they concluded that the Constitution bars a contender for the 2024 Republican nomination from appearing on the ballot because of his role in “inciting violence against the government of the United States.”
In January 2021, after American authorities declared Joe Biden the winner of the presidential election, Trump called the voting results fraudulent. Soon after, his supporters stormed the Congressional building, intending to formally approve Biden’s victory.
Colorado judges, like many of Trump’s critics, believe the former president tried to overturn the results of the presidential election through illegal means and encouraged his supporters to attack the Capitol.
Trump’s lawyer argued that the unrest at the Capitol was not serious enough to qualify as an insurrection and that Trump’s remarks to his supporters in Washington that day were protected by his right to free speech. The attorney argued that the courts do not have the power to require Trump to be removed from the ballot.
The US Supreme Court is also set to hear Trump’s appeal of a ruling that he does not have immunity from the case in 2020. Special counsel Jack Smith, who accused Trump in August of trying to overturn the election by fraud, has asked the Supreme Court to step in and decide whether Trump has immunity. The Supreme Court is engaged in considering such a case for the first time. The first hearing is scheduled for April 22.
It is worth remembering that Donald Trump has been accused of dozens of serious crimes.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.