Twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is among those who recognized the significance of former President Donald Trump’s decisive victory in New Hampshire Tuesday evening, previewing a general election race between Trump and President Joe Biden.
“After the Republican primary in New Hampshire, the choice for November is becoming clearer than ever,” Clinton began, asserting that democracy will somehow strengthen with Biden at the helm.
“Will you choose expanding freedom and strengthening democracy with Biden, or more abortion bans and election denialism with Trump?” she asked. “I say: Four more years of progress”:
Clinton’s remark, while predictably anti-Trump, contained the unsaid admission that Trump will most likely be the 2024 Republican nominee — a reality that former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has refused to accept.
“What a great night,” Haley told supporters Tuesday night after outlets called the New Hampshire primary race for Trump. “God is so good.”
While Haley congratulated Trump on his victory, she dismissed what she described as “chatter among the political class,” who believe the race is over.
“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,” Haley said, deeming the race “far from over.”
“There are dozens of states left to go, and the next one is my sweet state of South Carolina,” she said, making it abundantly clear that she intends to continue in the race despite falling behind Trump in the Granite State by more than 11 points. Exit polls from Tuesday night add further context to Haley’s final figure, as most — 70 percent — of Haley voters were not even registered Republicans, per CNN. In other words, Haley could not even come close to defeating Trump with the help of non-conservative voters in New Hampshire.
Trump called Haley out during his victory speech in New Hampshire Tuesday night.
“I find in life you can’t let people get away with bullshit. You can’t, you just can’t do that,” Trump said. “And when I watched her — the fancy dress that probably wasn’t so fancy — … I said, ‘What’s she doing? We won,’ and she did the same thing last week.”
WATCH — Trump Shades Nikki’s Non-Victory Celebration: She Can’t Get Away with “Bullsh*t!”
Haley has continued to face criticism from members of her own party, many of whom have called her out through the years for displaying “Hillary Clinton levels of cringe” with her gender-based declarations.
“But for now, I’ll leave you with this: May the best woman win,” Haley told supporters following news of Gov. Ron DeSantis dropping out of the race on Sunday:
Notably, years ago, Haley attributed her decision to run for office to Hillary Clinton.
“The reason I actually ran for office is because of Hillary Clinton,” Haley said in a 2012 interview. “[Clinton] said that when it comes to women running for office, there will be everybody that tells you why you shouldn’t, but that’s all the reasons why we need you to do it, and I walked out of there thinking, ‘That’s it. I’m running for office.’”