GOP laments 2021 'failed coup', vows to 'continue pushing to end democracy', with Trump at forefront

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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

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