SOUTH CAROLINA – Donald Trump said that war between Ukraine and Russia must end, reiterating his disapproval for sending more aid overseas as the Senate seeks to move forward with a package to provide emergency funding for Ukraine and Israel.
“We got to get that war settled and I’ll get it settled,” Trump, the Republican front-runner for the 2024 presidential nomination, said at a campaign rally on Feb 10 in Conway, South Carolina.
He called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “the greatest salesman in history” and sought to suggest that the US could be “out hundreds of billions of dollars” if Ukraine made a deal with Russia – which invaded the country two years ago – and “all of a sudden they don’t want to deal with us anymore.”
Trump’s possible return to the White House is increasingly a factor in Ukraine’s war to reclaim Russian-occupied territory after a counteroffensive faltered, he fell out with his top military commander and US military aid got stuck in Congress. Zelensky said this month “I want to believe and hope” that political changes in the US wouldn’t mean an end to aid for Ukraine.
Trump raised Ukraine only briefly as he pursued his campaign to deliver a knockout blow to Mrs Nikki Haley, his last major Republican challenger, on her home turf in the Republican primary in South Carolina on Feb 24. It was his first visit to the state since his victory in New Hampshire’s primary in January.
Polls show Trump in a commanding position in South Carolina, leading Mrs Haley by 31 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics average of state GOP polls.
Trump in recent weeks has consolidated his hold on the GOP, successfully pressuring lawmakers to abandon a bipartisan border deal, pushing out the head of the Republican National Committee in favor of a hand-picked successor and warning donors to unite behind him.
As he closes in on the nomination following wins in Iowa, New Hampshire and this week in the Nevada caucus, Trump and his allies have pressured Mrs Haley to exit the race. Mrs Haley’s aides have said she intends to stay in the contest through South Carolina and Super Tuesday next month, when more than a dozen states vote.
Mrs Haley is staking her campaign on a strong showing in the state where she was born and served two terms as governor. The former US ambassador to the United Nations has the support of prominent Wall Street executives but has been unable to translate that into a win in the GOP contest. She’s spent recent weeks on a fundraising blitz that has taken her to California, Florida and New York – seeking to court wealthy donors for the funding necessary to stay in the GOP race.
Mrs Haley and Trump have stepped up attacks on each other, with the former president questioning why his onetime ambassador is still running. Trump on Thursday told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida that Haley’s decision to stay in the race “hurts the party and, in a way, hurts the country.”
Haley’s Husband
Trump mocked Mrs Haley’s marriage on Feb 10 by questioning where her husband was. Mrs Haley responded in a post on X that her husband is deployed and serving in the military.
“Someone who continually disrespects the sacrifices of military families has no business being commander in chief,” Mrs Haley said on X.
The former president faced a barrage of criticism in 2020 after a report from The Atlantic magazine alleged he disparaged dead US military service members, including late Senator John McCain.
Mrs Haley has also questioned Trump’s mental competency following recent gaffes, including comments where he confused her with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and highlighted his myriad legal challenges as a mounting distraction. BLOOMBERG
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