As Nikki Haley stepped to the rostrum Saturday evening, the bravado she had embodied after shedding in New Hampshire a month earlier was gone. Her expression was somber and, for a second, she gave the impression to be edging towards withdrawing from the race for the Republican nomination.
“Our country will fall apart if we make the wrong choices. This has never been about me or my political future. We need to beat Joe Biden in November,” she stated, as her viewers held its breath.
Finally, she pivoted: “I don’t believe Donald Trump can beat Joe Biden.”
It was a exceptional corrective from Jan. 23, when she spun her 43 % of New Hampshire’s vote from defeat right into a type of victory and vowed to beat Mr. Trump in her house state of South Carolina.
And although Ms. Haley equally resolved to remain within the race on Saturday, her fortitude now seemed extra like cussed grit and dedication than upbeat confidence.
Mr. Trump delivered his personal corrective on Saturday evening. In New Hampshire, his victory speech had displayed all of the grace and decorum of knowledgeable wrestling present, right down to mocking Ms. Haley’s costume and taunting her over shedding. And he threatened that anybody who donated to her marketing campaign would henceforth be “permanently barred from MAGA,” referring to his “Make America Great Again” motion as if it have been considered one of his personal golf golf equipment.
In Columbia, S.C., Mr. Trump didn’t even point out the identify of Ms. Haley, his final main opponent — not precisely gracious, however not insulting both. Instead, he thanked his allies, coming closest to uttering an insult solely when he invited Senator Lindsey Graham to say a number of phrases by noting that he was “a little to the left” of the gang, as his supporters booed their state’s senior senator.
At this level in his political profession, nobody would mistake Mr. Trump for a unifying power, however in Columbia, he appeared able to attempt to a minimum of unite the Republican Party behind his nomination. He didn’t denigrate Ms. Haley’s voters or threaten her political donors.
Ms. Haley was extra practical about her exhibiting than she was within the Granite State. She stated she received “around” 40 % of the vote, including that that was “about” what she obtained in New Hampshire. In that assertion, “about” was doing numerous work; 40 % shouldn’t be 43 %, and early within the marketing campaign for South Carolina, the tremendous PAC backing her had stated she wanted to exceed her exhibiting in New Hampshire to show she was making progress. She didn’t.
Still, Ms. Haley used her personal phrase, “hard truth,” when she leveled along with her supporters — even when that tough fact didn’t conclude along with her withdrawal from the presidential race.
“I’m an accountant. I know 40 percent is not 50 percent,” she instructed the gang. “But I also know 40 percent is not some tiny group.”
“Today is not the end of our story,” she concluded. That left loads of choices for tomorrow.