Trump mocks Haley as ‘imposter’ as she refuses to drop primary bid

  

  Robert (Ribbit) LaMar

 This BLOG also appears in the Washington Examiner where Ribbit Rob appears every Tuesday and Thursday!!!! 

    Former President Donald Trump was in a celebratory mood as New Hampshire results showed him leading former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, saying it’s time for the party to unify behind him.

Trump handily defeated Haley on Tuesday night, with news outlets calling the race in the former president’s favor just minutes after the last polls closed at 8 p.m. The victory also serves as a historic win as the former president became the first non-incumbent Republican candidate to win both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary.

Trump took a jab at Haley’s performance in New Hampshire, mocking the former South Carolina governor for taking a “victory lap” in her speech despite having a “very bad night.”

“Who the hell was the imposter that went up on the stage before and like, claimed a victory? She did very poorly,” Trump said. “She failed badly.”

With entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) all dropping out, both Trump and Haley saw their polling numbers rise in recent weeks. Haley went from drawing below 20% support in the RealClearPolitics average in early December to polling at 36.3% on election day.

But Trump’s polling surged as well, surpassing 50% on Sunday and reaching 53.9% Tuesday. While she tried to temper expectations by saying she wouldn’t need to win in order to stay in the race, Trump said the Granite State result shows that he’s going to be the nominee.

Speaking for nearly 20 minutes, Trump again pointed to his substantial lead in the polls, mocking Haley for attempting to position herself as being on a winning trajectory in both Iowa and New Hampshire.

“She’s doing a speech like she won. She didn’t win, she lost,” Trump said. “And you know, last week we had a little bit of a problem — and if you remember Ron [DeSantis] was very upset because she ran up and she pretended she won Iowa. And I looked around and I said, ‘Didn’t she come in third?'”

Instead, Trump and his allies called on the Republican Party to unite and coalesce around Trump, whom many have declared the presumptive nominee.