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Nikki Haley vows to stay in 2024 race, calls Donald Trump ‘unstable and unhinged’

  • Donald Trump leads last Republican challenger in polls ahead of Saturday primary
  • Nick Haley says ‘unhinged’ Trump is ‘getting meaner and more offensive by the day’

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Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley a campaign rally in Clemson, South Carolina. Photo: AP

Nikki Haley vowed to stay in the Republican presidential race against Donald Trump regardless of the outcome of Saturday’s South Carolina primary, saying she would not buckle to pressure from the former president and his allies.

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“I feel no need to kiss the ring. And I have no fear of Trump’s retribution. I’m not looking for anything from him. My own political future is of zero concern,” Haley said Tuesday at a rally in Greenville, South Carolina in an event billed by her campaign as a major address on the state of the Republican race.

In her speech, Haley laid out the case against Trump, in an almost last-ditch effort to sway voters, and laid out the rationale for her candidacy with the primary contest slipping out of her control and Trump poised to deliver a large defeat to his last major challenger.

Haley said that if she dropped out now, voters would be subject to an exhausting general election contest between Trump and President Joe Biden – one for which many Americans have shown little appetite.

Donald Trump visiting Greer, South Carolina on Tuesday. Photo: AP
Donald Trump visiting Greer, South Carolina on Tuesday. Photo: AP

“There would be widespread reports of Americans suffering from a bad case of ‘Biden-Trump fatigue’. And it would be true,” Haley said. “A stunning 70 per cent of the country doesn’t want a Biden-Trump rematch. The majority of Americans don’t just dislike one candidate. They dislike both.”

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