Nikki Haley vows to stay in race but Trump looks unstoppable

Nikki Haley delivers remarks at her primary-night rally in New Hampshire (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

For opponents of Donald Trump there is no easy way to put this – the former president’s bid to win the Republican Party’s nomination seems utterly unstoppable.

In a contest whittled down from fourteen candidates to just two, himself and the former South Carolina governor who served as his UN Ambassador, voters in New Hampshire went overwhelming for Trump over Nikki Haley by a margin of more than ten points.

Despite Trump’s mocking of her, Haley vowed to stay in the contest and addressed supporters in tones that felt like a victory speech.

“I want to congratulate Donald Trump on his victory tonight. He earned it and I want to acknowledge that,” she said.

“Now you all heard the chatter among the political class. They’re falling all over themselves, saying ‘This race is over’. Well, I have news for all of [them] – New Hampshire is first in the nation. It is not the last.”

She added: “This race is far from over. There are dozens of states left to go and the next one is my sweet state of South Carolina.”

Yet having come third in Iowa, where she had hoped to manage second, and having lost in New Hampshire where she dreamed of winning, her chances of finding a path to victory are dwindling.

In truth, it could have been worse. Polls suggested the former president could win by as many as 20 points, boosted by a win in Iowa of historic proportions.

New Hampshire often throws up surprises, and delivers an outcome out of step with the more conservative, rural Iowa. In 1992 it helped Bill Clinton win the presidency by making him the “the comeback kid” and in 2008 it helped Hillary Clinton rebound from a stunning loss to Barack Obama in Iowa.

In 2000, the libertarian-minded voters of New Hampshire clicked with the flinty John McCain, delivering him an against-the-odds win against George W Bush, even though Bush bagged the nomination.

Yet for Haley, 52, it provided no such solace. Though she’d focused her efforts on the state with the same fervour and energy Ron DeSantis had put into Iowa, her efforts fell far short of what she and her supporters had wished for.

Earlier in the day, Trump said he did not care whether she continued her campaign. Yet when he addressed his own supporters on Tuesday evening his comments were utterly scornful.

“She was on [TV] and I said, ‘Wow, she’s doing like a speech like she won’. She didn’t win, she lost,” he said, standing on a stage along with Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina and Vivek Ramaswamy, rivals he had beaten and who were now backing him.

“This is not your typical victory speech, but let’s not have someone take a victory when she had a very bad night.”

Although Haley had arranged a rally in South Carolina for Wednesday as if to underscore her determination to keep fighting, the contest is not until February 24.

That will be a month of critics telling her to drop out, a month of Trump insulting her, a month of other Republicans announcing their support for the former president.

Even if her campaign survives to South Carolina, there is no guarantee it would help her. Polls show Trump leading there by as many as 30 points.

In order to avoid more political bloodshed she may follow the example of DeSantis, 45, who dropped out over the weekend and endorsed Trump.

Both have the option to run again in 2028 and should Haley not wish to alienate hardline Republican voters, it is all but certain she too would have to back the former president, unlike former New Jersey Chris Christie who dropped out earlier this month and claimed he was doing to try and ensure “that in no way do I enable Donald Trump to ever be president of the United States again”.

These must be trying times for Haley, trying to forge a path against the 77-year-old Trump, twice impeached and facing 91 criminal charges.

On Tuesday evening she sought to question both the mental acuity of him and Joe Biden.

Yet while Trump may be 25 years her senior, in truth the Republican base is much more aligned with him than her. While it is not true there are no moderate Republicans, they are not in the ascendent.

It is becoming more and more clear that this remains Donald Trump’s party and it will be all but impossible for her to wrestle it from him.