USA. DeSantis Quits, Nikki Haley Challenges Trump

Only Nikki Haley remains in the anti-Trump role on the eve of the second round of the Republican primaries. After an overwhelming victory in Iowa (DeSantis won 21% of the vote to the former president’s 51%), the New Hampshire vote is now expected, scheduled for Tuesday, January 23.

Ron DeSantis, long considered the man who could beat Donald Trump, will not be on the ballot. Instead, he announced his withdrawal from the race and the endorsement of the tycoon, but will seek to become president in 2028, going from anti-Trump to post-Trump.

“I don’t have a clear path to victory. Accordingly, I am today suspending my campaign. It’s clear to me that the majority of Republican voters in the primaries want to give Donald Trump another chance,” DeSantis announced on X social media. The governor stated support for Trump: “I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee, and I will honor that pledge. He has my endorsement, because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear.”

Nikki Haley embraced the news, saying DeSantis “is a good governor, ran a good campaign. Now the widow’s race has begun.”

Thus, Trump now has only one goal. At the last rally before the New Hampshire vote, he explained that “Haley is unelectable, the Democrats will win with her. She uses money from left-wing extremists to promote her radical agenda.”

For her part, the former South Carolina governor is betting everything on age, also using the former president’s caveat of confusing her with Nancy Pelosi in a speech, and other recent missteps: “He said Joe Biden is leading us into World War II, maybe he meant World War III… He said he ran against Barack Obama, but he never did. At age 80, mental health will continue to decline. That’s human nature.”

Either way, the race seems to be decided: Trump leads unchallenged in all polls within the Republican Party. Haley, for her part, will have an advantage with independent voters and focus on them, presenting herself as a reliable alternative to Trump, as well as to Biden. She will emphasize personal qualities. “If one of the two was a good choice, I wouldn’t be a candidate,” she explained. “They both represent bad choices; I don’t think we need it.”