Just one evening to deal with the shock, followed by a speech to confirm the inevitable outcome: In the wake of Super Tuesday – which Donald Trump dominated by winning the Republican primaries in 14 out of 15 states – his last rival, Nikki Haley, announced the suspension of her campaign on Wednesday, March 6. Speaking in Charleston, South Carolina, the former local governor congratulated Donald Trump, acknowledging that he would "in all likelihood" be nominated by the Republican Party at the national convention in July. But she refused to endorse his candidacy. "Now it's up to Donald Trump to win the votes of those who didn't support him, in our party and beyond," she added. With this warning: "We must turn our backs on the darkness of hatred and division."

At the same time, Trump published a message on his Truth Social network that left no doubt as to his animosity towards Haley. In it, he claimed that she had been "TROUNCED" on Super Tuesday and that most of her funding and voters "came from Radical Left Democrats." Biden, meanwhile, issued a statement with the opposite tone, reaching out to Haley's voters and paying tribute to her "courage" in the primaries.

"Donald Trump made it clear he doesn’t want Nikki Haley’s supporters. I want to be clear: There is a place for them in my campaign," wrote the president, adding: "I know there is a lot we won't agree on. But on the fundamental issues of preserving American democracy, on standing up for the rule of law, on treating each other with decency and dignity and respect, on preserving NATO and standing up to America's adversaries, I hope and believe we can find common ground."

While the battle for Haley's electoral base has begun, it's hard to predict what the future holds for this 52-year-old former US ambassador to the UN. In her most recent rallies, she stressed that she had no intention of becoming Donald Trump's running mate. In any case, Trump's primary recruitment criteria are loyalty and submission. Haley may secretly be banking on the former president's defeat against Joe Biden in November, to put herself at the vanguard of any internal reorganization of her party. This would be no easy task, given that the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement's stranglehold on the Republican party extends beyond Donald Trump alone.

Haley comes from a traditional conservative background, one that many major donors dreamed of restoring. She has advocated for less federal spending and taxes, more freedom for entrepreneurs, a foreign policy based on reinforcing America's alliances and asserting a position of force – military, if necessary – with its enemies and adversaries. She claims a moral clarity that Trump has never bothered to demonstrate. "Standing by our allies in Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan is a moral imperative," she said on Wednesday. But it’s also more than that. If we retreat further, there will be more war, not less."

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