After today’s primary in South Carolina, it should be clear to even Nikki Haley that she has zero chance of winning a primary against Donald Trump. Not even in her home state.

From the moment the polls closed and the votes started being tallied up, it was obvious that Donald Trump was going to run away with the South Carolina vote. Which means that it no longer matters what Nikki Haley says or does, or how much money she can raise. The primary race is officially over. Trump has run the table of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina (Nevada was a weird split between a caucus and a primary where Trump and Haley were not going head-to-head, but Haley still lost the primary to “none of these candidates”), and barring a black swan event or an act of God, Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican Party nominee for 2024.

Decision Desk HQ projects Donald J. Trump wins the South Carolina Republican Primary. #DecisionMade: 7:00pm ET

Follow more results here: https://t.co/dSm1m2Jyij pic.twitter.com/ocE8S7UH0h

— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) February 25, 2024

Which means that Donald Trump himself needs to officially switch over from primary campaign mode to presidential campaign mode. It seems that he has taken a big step forward in that department tonight, as Trump was declared the winner within minutes of the polls closing, and he was ready to give his victory speech.

“This is really something. This was a little sooner than we anticipated and an even bigger win than we anticipated,” Trump said. “And I was just informed that we got double the number of votes that has ever been received in the great state of South Carolina.”

Trump then began highlighting the “horror” of the “millions and millions of people coming across the border illegally.”

“We don’t know where they come from, they come from jails and they come from prisons — they come from all sorts of places,” Trump said. “We’re not going to stand for it — you have terrorists coming in.”

Trump vowed to “straighten things out.”

“The border is the worst it’s ever been,” he said. “We’re going to fix it — fix it very quickly.”

He added: “Our country is going to be respected again. Respected like never before.”

Trump went on to predict he’ll win the general election in November.

“We’re going to be up here on November 5th, and we’re going to look at Joe Biden and he’s destroying our country and we’re going to say, Joe, get out, Joe, you’re fired,” Trump said. “Joe, you’re destroying our country.”

If you watch Donald Trump’s remarks, he does not mention Nikki Haley’s name at all. He had Governor Henry McMaster, Senator Tim Scott, and Senator Lindsey Graham on stage with him, but other than mentioning his “very big win,” it’s almost as if Haley didn’t even exist. (Trump also made sure to point out his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, who he intends to be co-chair of the RNC after this primary, which is its own ball of issues.) Donald Trump was simply plowing forward, thanking supporters and different politicians who showed up to be with him in South Carolina.

Nikki Haley, on the other hand, is clinging to her belief that she is going to win at least ONE primary – so even though she got skunked in her own home state, she is refusing to quit the race. There appears to be no way that she will quit before Super Tuesday now.

Haley: I said earlier this week, that no matter what happens in South Carolina, I would continue to run for president…. I'm a woman of my word. pic.twitter.com/n0USTFGBad

— Acyn (@Acyn) February 25, 2024

Haley is apparently trying to court the “Never Trump” crowd and gain a few delegates in the meantime (or maybe appeal to the “No Labels” crowd?), so if something should happen to Donald Trump before the convention, she exists as the only viable option. The problem with her strategy is that the Republican bench is deep, and if she continues to alienate potential future supporters, then she risks having no political future going forward.

Donald Trump’s strategy after South Carolina should be what he said, and what the entire Trump campaign’s focus should be going forward, is “firing” Joe Biden. As we can see from the speech tonight, the South Carolina crowd already had the right signs.

President Trump took South Carolina by a landslide so to Nikki Haley and Joe Biden…. pic.twitter.com/mVfHuESREb

— Jordan, President Trump Supporter, Vegan Patriot (@JordanBrace8) February 25, 2024

There were a mix of “Joe Biden, You’re Fired” and “Fire Biden” signs at the speech tonight. “Fire Biden” is a simple and easy slogan – and it’s going to stick in people’s minds. If Donald Trump can focus on that, and completely ignore Nikki Haley going forward because, hey, he’s winning, then his campaign strategy will pay off. Joe Biden is in terrible trouble in the polls. All Donald Trump has to do is keep reminding voters how awful Biden is, and he could win the general election running away. Is Trump disciplined enough to stay on that message, without being distracted by Nikki Haley staying in the race? We shall see.

Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click