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00:00 In South Carolina's Republican primary, Donald Trump easily defeated Nikki Haley,
00:04 winning some 60% of the vote and delivering a crushing blow in her home
00:09 state and casting further doubt about her long-term viability. In his victory
00:14 speech, Trump never mentioned her by name, only referred to her twice. He's one
00:19 step closer to winning the Republican nomination for the third election in a
00:23 row. For more, let's speak to Christian Hanley. Hello to you, Christian. No surprise
00:28 that Trump won, but are you surprised that Nikki Haley is not quitting? I mean,
00:34 yes and no. She did lose her home state, as you said, in a pretty humiliating way.
00:39 It was a 60/40 split, and not only was it a 60/40 split, but she, but Donald Trump,
00:45 excuse me, won across the state. And this is a state where it's not winner-take-all
00:51 in terms of the delegates that a candidate wins, but it does award a
00:55 certain number of those delegates based on how many congressional districts a
00:59 candidate wins. And so by Trump not just winning the state outright, but winning
01:03 it across the map, it means he really did sweep the state. That being said, he's
01:08 also a candidate who is unique in that he faces multiple different civil and
01:13 criminal charges right now in jurisdictions across the United States.
01:17 And so for Nikki Haley, even though she has lost her home state last night, she
01:21 does, I believe, have a reason to stay in, if only because Donald Trump does face
01:27 so many legal perils between now and the general election.
01:30 Yeah, more on that. Nikki Haley's camp has been able to outrace Trump's. Why is that?
01:36 Are donors hedging their bets because of his legal troubles, or is it like Haley
01:40 says, when it comes down to a November showdown, she's only a Republican
01:44 that can beat Joe Biden?
01:46 Well, so it's, I think both of those
01:49 arguments could be made. In terms of the donors hedging their bets and
01:54 the legal challenges, I mean, you know, there are a lot of people who work in
01:57 politics who are not lawyers, and a lot of lawyers who comment on politics who
02:00 have never worked in politics. But no matter what your credentials are, I think
02:05 everybody on this side of the Atlantic can agree this is completely
02:08 unprecedented. And it's not just unprecedented in terms of the news
02:12 story. This is unprecedented in terms of our constitutional system of
02:17 government and in terms of our criminal justice system. We don't know answers to
02:22 the questions like if he is to be indicted in a criminal proceeding, if he
02:28 can actually serve a prison sentence given the fact that he is a former
02:31 president who requires Secret Service protection. These are legitimate
02:35 questions that there are not any legal precedents for, any real clear answers
02:39 for. So that is one strong argument for Nikki Haley staying in and for
02:45 donors hedging their bets, because you're right, they are continuing to give her
02:48 her campaign. But then in terms of in the general election, it's true. I mean,
02:53 there are all these arguments coming from Republicans, from the Trump
02:56 campaign in particular, that Joe Biden is old, that he is past his prime, all
03:01 these things. Well, Joe Biden and Donald Trump are only four years apart in age.
03:04 Donald Trump seems to forget who the current president is, who he's running,
03:07 who he would be running against. He's not doing well mentally or physically. And so
03:12 Haley's argument there is a strong one, because she would be a really strong
03:16 candidate against Joe Biden in the general election, unfortunately, for
03:19 Democrats. Yeah, and this year's presidential election looks like it's
03:22 gonna be the most expensive one ever. Is that what you're seeing? Yeah. Yeah,
03:28 already. I mean, it's great for Democrats right now, because Biden
03:33 is outracing Donald Trump. And Donald Trump right now is, of course, in a
03:39 way that we can't really say how it is or how it should be legal, using so
03:44 much of his campaign contributions towards his legal defenses. And I say
03:49 that legal defense plural, because there are so many cases across several
03:53 different states. But this will continue to be the most expensive in history, I
03:57 do believe, because this is an existential threat. Donald Trump is not
04:01 the same as Nikki Haley. Look, Nikki Haley is a staunch conservative. She's
04:05 being called a moderate right now, because she is more rational and
04:09 reasonable than Donald Trump in the Republican camp. But Donald Trump has
04:13 come out and said that he is not a fan of democracy, that he would be a
04:17 dictator on day one. And his followers did attempt a coup on January 6 of
04:22 2021. And just this past week at CPAC, the big conservative political
04:27 convention, there was an entire speech about how they failed on January 6, but
04:31 are going to continue pushing to end democracy. And Donald Trump is at the
04:35 forefront of that. So that means that Democrats, excuse me, and Joe Biden will
04:39 continue to raise money, not just from the traditional big donors, but also
04:42 from small dollar donations, everyday citizens who are concerned about the
04:45 stakes of the election.
04:46 Christian, thank you very much for your time. Christian Hanley speaking to us