Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley Defeated in Home State As Funders Pull Support

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley suffered a crushing defeat in her home state, and her funders announced they would stop funding. Some US media said this was a blow to Haley, but Haley insisted that he would not withdraw from the race.

The Republican primary for the 2024 U.S. presidential election moved to South Carolina on February 24. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was defeated miserably in her “home field”, trailing Trump by about 20 percentage points. After hearing the news, the major donor who had already spent US$32 million (approximately HK$250 million) on Haley’s campaign decided not to invest any money.

According to reports from Bloomberg and the New York Times on the 25th, the American conservative organization “Americans for Prosperity Action” (Americans for Prosperity Action), founded with the support of billionaire and industrialist Charles Koch, said on the same day that it would no longer support Haley. campaign funding. “Action for American Prosperity” is considered an opponent of Trump. In November last year, the organization selected Haley as a sponsor.

Bloomberg said this was a blow to Haley. But Haley’s team vowed to keep fighting, saying that with more than $1 million raised online in the past 24 hours, “we have enough fuel to keep going.”

Trump, who was watching the excitement, immediately said: “Charles Koch and his organization were fooled from the beginning!”

On the 25th local time, Haley congratulated Trump on his victory in the South Carolina primary. The former U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations reiterated that despite his defeat, he will not withdraw from the presidential race and will continue to hold on until “Super Tuesday” on March 5, when 15 states and American Samoa will hold party primaries. select.

However, Haley was unable to win in South Carolina, where she was born, became famous, became “the youngest governor in the United States” at the time, and was successfully re-elected as governor, and her campaign prospects are worrying. She has lost consecutive Republican primaries in four states: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

However, Trump, who has been entangled in a series of legal controversies, has a stable position in the Republican Party and has not lost a single primary election in the party so far. Bloomberg said Trump is expected to get enough delegate votes by mid-March.

Seeing Haley’s defeat in his hometown, its main donor, Action for American Prosperity, became disheartened and decided to stop funding Haley’s campaign.

Bloomberg quoted an internal email from Action for American Prosperity as saying that Emily Seidel, the organization’s CEO, said: “Given the challenges ahead in key states, we do not believe any outside organization will be able to contribute to broadening her ( Haley)’s path to victory. So while we will continue to support her, we will focus our resources where we can make a difference. And that’s the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.”

Seidel added that Action for American Prosperity remains concerned about the political aftershocks of Trump winning the Republican presidential nomination.

Bloomberg quoted data from the U.S. Federal Election Commission as saying that since announcing its support for Haley at the end of November last year, “American Prosperity Action” has spent more than $32 million, most of which was used for advertising and canvassing activities. However, after Haley failed to win the New Hampshire primary last month, the organization had significantly slowed down its spending on the Republican campaign until it officially decided to cut off funding to Haley on the 25th of this month.

Later on February 25, local time, Haley team spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas expressed her gratitude to “American Prosperity Action” for its huge help in this campaign. , calling the organization a “great organization and ally.”

Olivia said that they will continue to fight, “In the past 24 hours alone, grassroots conservatives have donated more than $1 million (referring to online platform fundraising), and we have enough fuel to continue moving forward. We want to save a country .”

Bloomberg said that the latest decision of “American Prosperity Action” is a blow to Haley.

The New York Times mentioned that on November 28 last year, when Haley’s campaign team was still very small, Action for American Prosperity came to the rescue in the nick of time and announced its support for Haley in the Republican presidential nomination competition. At the time, Haley was competing with Florida Governor DeSantis to become Trump’s top party rival.

According to reports, with the sponsorship of “American Prosperity Action”, Haley’s team was able to canvass votes directly through email, and organizers knocked on doors and called potential voters in Iowa and other states.

However, despite these efforts, Haley still trailed far behind Trump in Iowa, finishing in third place. A person familiar with Operation Americans for Prosperity said that in the final stages of its fight for South Carolina, the group focused on outreach to grassroots voters rather than advertising.

According to the US “Time” magazine, “American Prosperity Action” can be regarded as the most cutting-edge branch in the political orbit of the “Koch Brothers”. It is led by Charles Koch, CEO of the American Koch Industries Group, and his late brother David. Koch was founded in 2004. The Koch brothers are one of the major donors to the Republican Party.

“Time” magazine stated that although “American Prosperity Action” has never explicitly mentioned Trump in emails sent to members, the organization does not intend to play a passive role in Republican politics when it comes to who wins the White House. The organization fully supported Mitt Romney, who challenged Obama in 2012; in 2016, members of the organization did not support Trump, but some donors were Trump supporters.

After Trump took office, the attitude of Trump defenders within the Koch Group worsened. The Capitol riots on January 6, 2021 were the last straw for many people. Many believe that the threat posed by a leader with no respect for the rule of law is impossible to ignore.

In September last year, after seeing reports that organizations supported by Charles Koch had raised tens of millions of dollars in an attempt to find a replacement for him in the 2024 US election, Trump criticized Charles Koch on social platforms. Hyuk is “extremely stupid, clumsy, and grossly overrated.”

Now that he heard that the American Prosperity Initiative would stop funding Haley, Trump was overjoyed. He posted on social platforms, “Charles Koch and his organization were fooled from the beginning.”

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Since the outbreak of a new round of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there have been numerous domestic protests in the United States against Israel’s excessive use of force, which has resulted in a large number of Palestinian civilian casualties. Protests were mostly held outside Israeli diplomatic missions in the United States.

According to previous reports from the New York Times and other media, a US Air Force active-duty soldier set himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy in the United States on the 25th, and US Secret Service personnel put out the fire. The self-immolator was seriously injured and was sent to a local hospital for emergency treatment.

Multiple U.S. officials said that a video was circulating online that seemed to be posted by the soldiers involved. Video shows him shouting “Free Palestine” as he was burned.

On the 26th, the British “Mirror” reported on the “last words” of a man named Aaron Bushnell before he carried out extreme protest actions. He said that he “will not be an accomplice of genocide” and expressed his solidarity with the Palestinians. Compared with human experience, “this (self-immolation) is not extreme at all.”

According to reports, the incident occurred around 13:00 on the 25th when Bushnell walked to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., and began live broadcasting on the Twitch platform. During this period, he stated, “My name is Aaron Bushnell. I am an active duty member of the United States Air Force. I will no longer be complicit in genocide.”

“I am about to take an extreme protest action, but it is nothing compared to what the Palestinians have experienced at the hands of the colonizers. Our ruling class has decided that this is normal,” he said. The report added that as the flames engulfed the man, he kept shouting “Free Palestine”.

According to an NBC report on the 26th, a U.S. official said that the soldier has died after being sent to the hospital.

According to reports from Reuters, the New York Post and other media, regarding the incident of “an American soldier setting himself on fire and dying in front of the Israeli Embassy in the United States”, U.S. Pentagon spokesman Ryder responded at a press conference on the 26th that the United States Defense Secretary Austin is paying close attention to the situation.

The incident also attracted attention in the United States. As of the time of publication by Global.com, the label “#Aaron Bushnell” has been on the hot search list of social platform X in the United States.

Under this topic, some netizens noticed that CNN also broadcast the “last words” of the man involved, and said they “can’t believe it”: “I can’t believe I said this, but Aaron •Bushnell’s last words were just broadcast live on CNN.”

Some netizens posted photos and videos saying that someone held an event outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington to mourn Aaron Bushnell.

Later on the 26th local time, the local media “WUSA9” in Washington, DC, USA released a video about the memorial event on its YouTube channel.

According to the transcript released on the Pentagon website, a reporter asked at a press conference on the 26th, “An active-duty soldier set himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy (in the United States) yesterday to protest the United States’ support for Israel’s actions in Gaza. Has the Secretary of Defense been informed of this?” What about an Air Force member named Bushnell? Is he concerned that the Airman’s actions might be indicative of larger issues within the military regarding U.S. support for this ongoing operation?”

In response, Ryder replied, “The Secretary of Defense is paying attention to the situation related to this incident. I know that the Air Force has confirmed the death of the airman.” “This is undoubtedly a tragic incident. We express our condolences to the family of the Air Force member.” Ryder added that the Washington, D.C., Police Department is responsible for answering questions about this incident. If you have any questions, it is recommended to ask the police department.

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2024-02-27 04:16:37