Donald Trump’s grip on the Republican nomination for president is all but certain to be confirmed on Tuesday, as 16 US states and one territory hold primary votes. From Alabama to Alaska and from Arkansas to American Samoa, “Super Tuesday” represents Nikki Haley’s last chance to deny Trump a third nomination.
But the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador is way off the pace, her only win in Washington DC, and in need of a political miracle if she is not to be forced to finally end her campaign.
Furthermore, the US supreme court on March 4 ruled unanimously that judges in one Super Tuesday state, Colorado, erred when they said Trump should be kept off the ballot for inciting the January 6 insurrection. Maine, which will also vote on Tuesday, also attempted to stop Trump running. The third state to do so, Illinois, will hold its primary later in March.
According to media reports, the court ruled stating “responsibility for enforcing” the 14th Amendment’s “insurrection” clause “against federal officeholders and candidates rests with Congress and not the States”.
The court said that “the text of the Fourteenth Amendment, on its face, does not affirmatively delegate such a power to the States”.
If states were allowed to determine which candidates were eligible for the ballot, it could result in a candidate being “declared ineligible in some States, but not others, based on the same conduct”, the justices wrote in the 9-0 ruling.
“The disruption would be all the more acute” if a candidate were found ineligible after people had voted in the election, they also said. “Nothing in the Constitution requires that we endure such chaos”.
The decision strikes down the Colorado Supreme Court ruling that found Trump ineligible for the ballot due to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which contains a clause banning people who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office. The state high court said he violated the amendment through his alleged involvement in attempts to overturn the 2020 election and the subsequent January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement after the decision: “The United States Supreme Court today made a powerful and unified statement against the brazen, unconstitutional coup by leftists against the constitutional rights of tens of millions of Americans. And, thankfully, a Supreme Court majority seems prepared to stop any shady Biden administration and leftist congressional efforts to overturn a Trump victory based on false allegations of insurrection”.
Revolver News noted “there is a major ‘hidden’ truth that could utterly destroy the Left’s plot to take down Trump. The decision shows us that the US hasn’t fallen into total ‘banana republic’ territory yet, despite how hard the Left is trying to push us there with this barrage of insane court cases. This is a very big victory for the American people, and that’s precisely how President Trump correctly framed his win”.
The Supreme Court’s decision will also impact Illinois and Maine, which also found Trump ineligible. All state rulings on the matter were on hold until the Supreme Court issued a ruling in the Colorado case.
Chief Justice John Roberts warned of a ballot arms race, with Republican and Democrat secretaries of state rushing to oust candidates of the other party.
Indeed, some Republicans had already suggested that the border chaos or Joe Biden’s dealings with Iran could constitute aid and comfort to an enemy, worthy of being ousted from a ballot.
In the ruling, the court boiled all those objections down to a more simple principle: only Congress can make these judgments.
“The Constitution empowers Congress to prescribe how those determinations should be made”, the court said.
Leftist activists had called for Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from the case over his wife’s support for Trump’s objections to the 2020 election results.
Justice Thomas rejected those demands and did take part in the ruling.
Trump called it a “big win for America”.
On the Democratic side of the Super Tuesday ballot, Joe Biden is all but sure to defeat his also-ran challengers, the Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson, a self-help author who last week “un-suspended” her campaign.
Amid deepening concern about the president’s age and fitness for office, as well as his record on the Israel-Hamas war, aides to Biden will be chiefly concerned with turnout and protest vote totals.
The Democratic Socialists of America, a force with young progressives, has endorsed a push for Super Tuesday voters to choose “uncommitted”, to register disapproval for US support for Israel. In Michigan last week, more than 100,000 did so.
Still, Frank Luntz, a Republican-aligned pollster, previously told the Guardian that in terms of a presidential election, Super Tuesday “never mattered less” than this year.
“I don’t know any political event that’s got more attention for being less relevant”, Luntz said. “The decision has been made. The choice is clear”.
Polling shows clear majorities of voters in both parties dissatisfied with the prospect of a Biden-Trump rematch, amid concerns over their ages (Biden is 81, Trump 77) and fitness for office, in Trump’s case also over his 91 criminal charges (for election subversion, retention of classified information and hush-money payments) and multimillion-dollar civil defeats.
“You know who the two nominees are and 70 percent of Americans would rather it not be so”, Luntz said.
There are also down-ballot contests to watch.
In California, in an open primary, voters will decide which two candidates for US Senate will advance to the November general election. Adam Schiff, a Democratic former chair of the House intelligence committee, and Steve Garvey, a Republican former baseball star, lead a crowded field.
In Texas, a Republican-run state forever the subject of Democratic hopes and dreams, Democrats will choose a candidate to challenge the high-profile, hard-right, Trump-supporting senator Ted Cruz. Colin Allred, a congressman and former NFL player, leads polling.
In North Carolina, the Democratic attorney general, Josh Stein, and Republican lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson, are expected to advance to an election for governor in November. That race will decide who succeeds Roy Cooper, a term-limited Democrat, in what is increasingly a swing state, vital to presidential elections and control of Congress.
Robinson, a rare Black Republican in elected office, has attracted widespread criticism for harsh rightwing rhetoric. At a rally last week, Trump called him “Martin Luther King on steroids”.
Following Washington DC primary, where Nikki Haley won with huge margin, Trump Campaign said in a statement, “Tonight’s results in Washington, DC, reaffirm the object of President Trump’s campaign -he will drain the swamp and put America first”,
“While Nikki has been soundly rejected throughout the rest of America, she was just crowned Queen of the Swamp by the lobbyists and DC insiders who want to protect the failed status quo. The swamp has claimed their queen. President Trump will fight for every American who is being let down by these very DC insiders and devastated by Joe Biden’s failures,” the statement added.
Trump responded to Haley’s win in DC, posting on social media: “I purposely stayed away from the D.C. Vote because it is the ‘Swamp,’ with very few delegates, and no upside. Birdbrain spent all of her time, money and effort there. Over the weekend we won Missouri, Idaho, and Michigan – BIG NUMBERS – Complete destruction of a very weak opponent. The really big numbers will come on Super Tuesday. Also, WAY UP ON CROOKED JOE!”
“Birdbrain is a loser, record low performance in virtually every State”, Trump continued, noting that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis “easily beat her” while he was still in the race.
“I enjoy watching the Bird disavow her PLEDGE to the RNC and her statement that she would NEVER run against President Trump (‘A great President’)”, he added. “Well, she ran, she lied, and she LOST BIG!”
Nikki Haley currently has 43 total delegates, compared to Trump’s 244.
She is also still far behind Trump in national polls and is expected to perform very poorly on Super Tuesday (March 5).
After North Dakota’s caucus on Monday, Trump may come close to clinching the Republican Party nomination following Super Tuesday.
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia are the states that are holding elections on Super Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Nikki Haley appeared to walk back a pledge she made to support whoever wins the 2024 Republican nomination.
During an interview Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Haley attempted to claim that she signed the pledge in order to participate in the Republican primary debates.
“As long as we are competitive, I’m going to continue to fight”, Haley said. “I don’t look too far ahead”.
“The RNC pledge,” she said. “I mean, at the time of the debate, we had to take it to where, ‘Would you support the nominee?’ And in order to get on that debate stage, you said yes. The RNC is now not the same RNC”, Haley said. “I think I’ll make what decision I want to make”.
“Let’s talk about Super Tuesday. If you wake up on Wednesday and you haven’t won anywhere, and that’s an if, would you then need to make the decision that it’s time to drop out of the race?” host Kristen Welker asked.
“I’ve always said this needs to be competitive. As long as we are competitive, as long as we are showing that there is a place for us, I’m going to continue to fight. That’s always been the case”, Haley said.
Welker asked, “Based on what you’re saying, Ambassador, are you prepared to stay in this through the convention? Is that your plan?”
Haley deflected again, saying, “If the people want to see me go forward, they’ll show it. They’ll show it in their votes. They’ll show it in their donations. They’ll show it in the fact that they want us to continue to go forward. This is about really trying to get everyone to realize that this primary isn’t between Donald Trump and Nikki Haley”.
“I’ll make what decision I want to make,” Haley said. “But that’s not something I’m thinking about. And I think that while you all think about that, I’m looking at the fact that we had thousands of people in Virginia”.
Welker then asked: “You’re laying this out in very stark terms. It sounds like, from your perspective, this is a battle for the Republican Party. You’ve been sharpening your attacks against Former President Trump. Everyone has noticed in recent days, in recent weeks. Have you taken the prospects, the possibility of endorsing him off the table at this point? But is it off the table, Ambassador? It sounds like you are in a different place. Are people misinterpreting what you’re saying? Have you moved to a place where you’re no longer planning to endorse him?”
“Well, I think, first of all, if you talk about an endorsement, you’re talking about a loss. I don’t think like that. When you’re in a race, you don’t think about losing. You think about continuing to go forward. What I can tell you is I don’t think Donald Trump or Joe Biden should be president,” Haley responded, again deflecting.
“I don’t think that we need two candidates in their 80s. I don’t think we want a Joe Biden who calls his opponents fascists or a Donald Trump who calls his opponents vermin. No one wants that. I think people want a new generational leader that is going to go back to what the American dream is, what we want for our kids, and a place that’s something that we can be proud of again,” Haley added.
The MSNBC host went on to ask: “You did sign a pledge, an RNC pledge to support the eventual nominee. Do you still feel bound by that pledge?”
