Supporters hail Trump nomination as 'definitive' after latest win

When Donald Trump's picture appeared on screen Saturday, his supporters at an election-night watch party in South Carolina burst into cheers -- convinced that his victory in yet another state primary had cemented his status as the "definitive" Republican presidential nominee.

Holding slices of pizza and glasses of wine, those gathered at an upscale apartment complex outside Charleston hugged and congratulated each other, with the 77-year-old former president projected to win just moments after polls closed.

"I'm thrilled!" Amber Sparks told AFP.

"Because it's definitive, and at this point we can move on... we can move forward. We don't have to sit on the fence and wonder 'what if' and ride between two candidates -- now it's definitive," the 55-year-old legal assistant said.

The party had yet to hear from Nikki Haley, South Carolina's former governor and Trump's last remaining opponent, who would later confirm that she would not drop out of the race despite losing her home state.

"It was already over for her," Tom Robertson, 61, told AFP.

"Trump will rule the world if he gets back in there and he'll help us out."

Another attendee, Jordan Bryngelson, said Haley "did a good job with the UN" -- when she was an ambassador under Trump -- but that "it's just not her time."

Sparks had reservations about the controversy Trump perennially courts with his remarks, but "I do love his policies," she said.

"You know, you're gonna be policy-driven or you're gonna be personality-driven. But for me, it's really going to come down to policy."

For another Republican, who wished to remain anonymous, voting for Trump also meant voting for their Christian values.

The former president, when in office, notably appointed conservative justices to the Supreme Court, paving the way for the overturning of the federal right to abortion in 2022.

"I feel God allowed Biden in to wake people up," she said, clutching the cross she wears around her neck.

Trump "needs to have a chance to finish what he was accomplishing," she said.

Haley lashes out at Trump

US Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley on Saturday lashed out at rival Donald Trump for making what she called "disgusting" comments about Black Americans.

Trump, who defeated Haley in Saturday's nominating contest in South Carolina, suggested that Black voters favor him because they can relate to his troubles with the law.

"It's disgusting. But that's what happens when he goes off the teleprompter. That's the chaos that comes with Donald Trump," Haley said at a polling station in her home state.

"That's the offensiveness that's going to happen every day between now and the general election, which is why I continue to say Donald Trump cannot win a general election," she added.

Trump made the comments Friday evening in a speech to Black conservatives.

The 77-year-old, who faces four criminal indictments, including on charges of conspiracy and vote rigging, suggested that "Black people like me because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as I'm being discriminated against."

He also claimed that Black voters appreciate his police photo, taken at a Georgia jail, more than anybody else.

"The mug shot, we've all seen the mug shot, and you know who embraced it more than anybody else? The Black population. It's incredible," he said.

The remarks drew criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike.

"Last night in South Carolina, Donald Trump stood on stage to make shameful, racist comments that tap into a hatred and divisiveness that is the very worst of us," said President Joe Biden in a campaign email.

Earlier in the week, Trump compared his legal troubles to the persecution of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, whose recent sudden death in an Arctic prison has been linked by Biden and other Western leaders to the Kremlin.