Freedom under threat – Biden

FACE-OFF: ‘STAKES HIGH’ AS TRUMP CLAIMS ‘EASY WIN’

President Joe Biden said after Donald Trump racked up another primary win in New Hampshire on Tuesday that they were now set to face off in the November presidential election, with US democracy and “freedoms” at stake.

“It is now clear that Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee. And my message to the country is the stakes could not be higher. Our democracy. Our personal freedoms – from the right to choose to the right to vote,” Biden said in a statement.

With around 80% of votes counted, Trump’s winning margin hovered at about 11 percentage points, but his sole remaining challenger Nikki Haley vowed to fight on.

Trump, 77, attacked Haley in a victory speech and said that when the primary contest reaches her home state of South Carolina, “we’re going to win easily.”

Trump’s address was loaded with his trademark ominous warnings about immigration.

In her speech, Haley insisted the race was “far from over” and told supporters that Democrats actually want to run against her former boss, due to his record of sowing “chaos”.

“They know Trump is the only Republican in the country who Joe Biden can defeat,” Haley, 52, said.

Despite adding New Hampshire to his previous easy victory in Iowa – and looking near unstoppable as he seeks to become the Republican candidate in November – Trump kept to his hardright messaging, with no hint of reaching out to the more moderate voters who supported Haley.

He said the United States was a “failing country” and claimed that undocumented migrants were coming from psychiatric hospitals and prisons and “killing our country”.

With strong turnout in the state, Haley had hoped for a major upset. But broadcasters quickly projected her defeat as the first tallies came in.

Trump was already the runaway leader in national Republican polling, despite two impeachments as president and four criminal trials hanging over him.

While Haley repeatedly questioned Trump’s mental fitness, her efforts in New Hampshire were not expected to create much more than a speed bump for the populist right-winger’s surge.

“It’s a two-person race between him and Biden,” Keith Nahigian, a former member of Trump’s transition team, said. – AFP