Haley called Trump’s comments about Black people disgusting

The North Carolina Primary: Nikki Haley, Donald J. Trump, and the Democratic Candidate Jonathon Higgs Boson

Former President Donald J. Trump and Nikki Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, will face off in the state’s Republican primary on Saturday. The polls show Mr. Trump with a big lead.

As we saw in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary last month, the speed of a race call can give the victor — in both of those cases Mr. Trump — a sense of momentum, even an air of inevitability. Iowa was called for Mr. Trump before the caucuses had even ended.

Polls in South Carolina will close at 7 p.m., and Ms. Haley is expected to speak in Charleston once the winner is declared. The Trump campaign will hold a “watch party” in the state capital of Columbia, where the former president is expected to speak.

An early night for the two remaining candidates will say a lot about where the race is heading as they turn to Michigan next week ahead of Super Tuesday on March 5, when 15 states will vote to award 874 of 2,429 Republican delegates.

If the drumming that polling suggests it will, leads to Ms. Haley being trounced, it will be a big loss for the South Carolina Republican. The polls show she is behind Mr. Trump by 30 percentage points.

Just after the New Hampshire primary, Mark Harris, the chief strategist for Ms. Haley’s super PAC, SFA Fund, said that the former governor did not have to win her home state but that she did have to exceed her share of the vote in New Hampshire — 43 percent — to show she is making progress with Republican voters.

Poll after poll has found that most Americans do not relish a rematch between President Biden and Mr. Trump, the major party nominees in 2020. Mr. Biden won the Democratic primary in South Carolina on Feb. 8 with more than 96 percent of the vote. The low turnout was always expected and was the reason why 131,302 people voted.

The weather in South Carolina will be lovely on Saturday, even though there will be snow in the forecast. A low turnout could be attributed to the lack of drama in the state: Even Ms. Haley’s supporters evince little confidence that she could win. But a poor showing of South Carolinians could add a data point to Ms. Haley’s contention that Americans are desperate for a fresh, younger face to vote for in November — or more broadly, the point that none of the candidates have inspired voters in a surly mood.

South Carolinians like to divide themselves into three sections: the Upstate around Greenville and Spartanburg, where the question is, what church do you belong to?; the Midlands, dominated by the state capital, where the question is, what agency do you work for?; and the mellower Lowcountry of Charleston and the coast, where the question is, what do you drink?

That leaves the Lowcountry, where affluent Republicans fix up 19th-century mansions in Charleston and Beaufort, golf on Hilton Head or build sumptuous beach houses in the Charleston suburbs of Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island — and where Ms. Haley lives, on Kiawah Island. The Lowcountry should be Haley country.

But a surge of newcomers — the largest cohort from New York and New Jersey — has swelled more middle-class, inland suburbs around Charleston, as well as in Horry County, home to Myrtle Beach. They were not around for Governor Haley.

How this region votes will speak to Mr. Trump’s appeal with the educated, affluent Republicans who once controlled the party, and with suburbanites not influenced by their prior experience with Ms. Haley.

Nikki Haley called comments Donald Trump made about Black people at an event Friday “disgusting” and proof Republicans would lose the presidential race if he’s the nominee.

That’s the chaos that comes with Donald Trump. Donald Trump can’t win a general election because of offensiveness that will happen every day between now and then. He won’t.

Speaking at the Black Conservative Federation Gala in Columbia, S.C., Friday night, former President Donald Trump made a series of inflammatory comments about Black voters, including suggesting that Black voters support him because of his criminal indictments, that they have “embraced” his mug shot and that he could only see Black people in the audience because of how bright the stage lights were.

Haley, speaking to reporters after casting her vote in the South Carolina primary Saturday near her home in Kiawah Island, S.C., said the comments are the latest example of a “huge warning sign” if he’s the GOP nominee.

“It’s disgusting, but that’s what happens when he goes off the teleprompter,” Haley said to reporters after voting on Kiawah Island. “That’s the chaos that comes with Donald Trump. Donald Trump cannot win a general election because of the offensiveness that’s going to happen between now and then. He won’t.”