Former President Trump touted a “bigger win than we anticipated” in the South Carolina Republican Primary Saturday night, saying he looks forward to looking at President Biden in November and saying: “Joe, you’re fired.”
The primary was called for the former president and 2024 GOP frontrunner just moments after polls closed Saturday night, defeating former two-term South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in her home state, and bringing him another step closer to clinching the 2024 GOP nomination.
COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA – FEBRUARY 24: Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump greets supporters during an election night watch party at the State Fairgrounds on February 24, 2024 in Columbia, South Carolina. South Carolina held its Republican primary today. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“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.”
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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.
Former US Presidential hopeful and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump (C) gestures at an “Election Night Watch Party” in Columbia, South Carolina, on February 24, 2024. Donald Trump won the Republican primary in South Carolina on Saturday, US media projections showed, defeating rival Nikki Haley and continuing his march toward the nomination ahead of November’s presidential election. ( TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
“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.”
He added: “And we’re going to I just wish we could do it quicker. Nine months is a long time. I just wish we could do it quicker.
Trump said he has “never seen the Republican Party so unified as it is right now– it’s never been like that.”
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Trump was on stage with his family— his wife, former First Lady Melania Trump; his sons Barron, Donald Jr., Eric; his daughters Ivanka and Tiffany; his sons-in-law Jared Kushner, and Michael Boulos; his daughter-in-law Lara Trump; and Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancée, Kimberly Guilfoyle.
Trump was also joined on stage by South Carolina GOP Senators Tim Scott, who has been rumored to be a potential pick for vice president, and Lindsey Graham.
Trump described Scott, R-S.C., as “a dynamo” and a “wonderful, great advocate,” and a “very special man.”
COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA – FEBRUARY 24: Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump greets supporters during an election night watch party at the State Fairgrounds on February 24, 2024 in Columbia, South Carolina. South Carolina held its Republican primary today. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Scott declared South Carolina “Trump Country,” with Graham saying Trump is “the most qualified man to be president, the United States.”
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster was also on stage with the former president.
The former president also gave a shout-out to Michael Whatley, the North Carolina Republican Party chairman. Trump has endorsed Whatley to be the chair of the Republican National Committee.
“We gave him our endorsement and he looks to me like he’s going to be going on to the National Republican Party as the boss,” Trump said, adding that he would be working with “Lara [Trump],” and said “we may be putting Kellyanne [Conway] in the group too.”
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“We like Kellyanne,” Trump said of his former senior counselor and 2020 campaign manager.
Former US Presidential hopeful and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump smiles at an “Election Night Watch Party” in Columbia, South Carolina, on February 24, 2024. Donald Trump won the Republican primary in South Carolina on Saturday, US media projections showed, defeating rival Nikki Haley and continuing his march toward the nomination ahead of November’s presidential election. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP) (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Trump, looking ahead, pointed to next week’s Michigan Primary, where he predicted a victory because “the auto workers are going to be with us 100% because they got sold out by this country.”
“We have Super Tuesday, we have more coming,” he said.
“We have a country that is a failing nation, but we’re not going to have a nation very long,” he said. “We’re not going to allow this to happen. We love our country. We love it dearly. We’re going to fight for our country. We’re in a fight for our rights. We’re not going to let this go on because it is not sustainable as a country.”
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Trump added that Election Day, November 5, “is going to be the most important date, perhaps, in the history of our country.”
Trump has three times as many delegates as Haley already, and he will win up to 50 more tonight, according to the Fox News Decision Desk. Haley could not convert her hometown advantage into a win. She told supporters this week that she was not dropping out of the race.