South Carolina primary: Trump easily defeats Haley

South Carolina primary: Former US president Donald Trump easily defeats his only contestant Nikki Haley in her home state South Carolina. With this massive win he is one step closer to the Republican presidential nomination. 

Trump won South Carolina by a 20-point margin and it's his fourth consecutive victory. On the other side, it's a huge defeat for Haley, cause in a sense it's was her own state.

Former president celebrated this victory with his supporters. But he made no mention of Haley, who vowed to stay in the race. 

"We're going to look Joe Biden right in the eye," he told supporters minutes after US media projected him as the winner on Saturday night. "He's destroying our country — and we're going to say 'get out Joe, you're fired'."

Trump praised his party's "unity" after Saturday's result, saying: "There's never been a spirit like this. I have never seen the Republican Party so unified."

It marked a shift from his response to last month's primary in New Hampshire, where he raged against Haley for "doing a speech like she won".

Haley, who once served as a popular two-term governor of South Carolina, congratulated her opponent on his victory in her speech.

She promised not to quit, however, saying the roughly 40% of the vote she received was "not some tiny group".

"There are huge numbers of voters in our Republican primaries who are saying they want an alternative," she said, emphasizing that her continued campaign was not about her own political ambitions.

"I'm not giving up this fight when a majority of Americans disapprove of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden," she added.

She has re-committed to staying in the race until at least Super Tuesday- 5 March- when voters in 16 states will cast their ballots on the same day.

"I'm a woman of my word," the former UN ambassador said. "We're headed to Michigan tomorrow, and we're headed to the Super Tuesday states throughout all of next week."

The Trump campaign dismissed Haley's continued effort in a statement on Saturday, stating that her "delusion is clouding her judgement, and she is no longer living in reality".