(AFP) – When Donald Trump’s picture appeared on screen Saturday, his supporters at an election-night watch party in South Carolina burst into cheers — convinced that his victory in yet another state primary had cemented his status as the “definitive” Republican presidential nominee.
Holding slices of pizza and glasses of wine, those gathered at an upscale apartment complex outside Charleston hugged and congratulated each other, with the 77-year-old former president projected to win just moments after polls closed.
“I’m thrilled!” Amber Sparks told AFP.
“Because it’s definitive, and at this point we can move on… we can move forward. We don’t have to sit on the fence and wonder ‘what if’ and ride between two candidates — now it’s definitive,” the 55-year-old legal assistant said.
The party had yet to hear from Nikki Haley, South Carolina’s former governor and Trump’s last remaining opponent, who would later confirm that she would not drop out of the race despite losing her home state.
“It was already over for her,” Tom Robertson, 61, told AFP.
“Trump will rule the world if he gets back in there and he’ll help us out.”
Another attendee, Jordan Bryngelson, said Haley “did a good job with the UN” — when she was an ambassador under Trump — but that “it’s just not her time.”
Sparks had reservations about the controversy Trump perennially courts with his remarks, but “I do love his policies,” she said.
“You know, you’re gonna be policy-driven or you’re gonna be personality-driven. But for me, it’s really going to come down to policy.”
For another Republican, who wished to remain anonymous, voting for Trump also meant voting for their Christian values.
The former president, when in office, notably appointed conservative justices to the Supreme Court, paving the way for the overturning of the federal right to abortion in 2022.
“I feel God allowed Biden in to wake people up,” she said, clutching the cross she wears around her neck.
Trump “needs to have a chance to finish what he was accomplishing,” she said. – Inès BEL AIBA
