South-Carolina
Five takeaways from the South Carolina GOP primary
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Former President Trump won an emphatic victory in the South Carolina primary Saturday, vanquishing rival Nikki Haley in her home state.
The race was called for Trump within moments of polls closing at 7 p.m. EST. With 83 percent of returns in just before 10 p.m., the GOP front-runner’s margin of victory stood at 21 points
The Michigan primary is next up Tuesday — and then March 5 brings Super Tuesday, when more than a dozen states vote.
Here are the main takeaways from the Palmetto State primary.
Trump’s landslide puts him on a glide path to nomination
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a primary election night party at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia, S.C., Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Make no mistake, Trump will be the 2024 Republican nominee, barring some utter cataclysm.
The former president is 4-for-4 in primary contests so far. Here, in South Carolina, he hammered Haley in the state where she twice won election as governor.
At Trump’s victory speech in Columbia, the degree to which the state’s GOP establishment had rowed in behind him was clear. Sens. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) both spoke briefly on his behalf, as did Gov. Henry McMaster (R).
Haley spoke to a smaller crowd in Charleston, alone on the stage.
She continues to press the case that Trump is unelectable in November. But there is no real reason to believe her argument will gain traction with GOP voters elsewhere when it has failed to do so here.
That’s not necessarily a failing of the former governor’s, but simply reflects that the GOP base remains enamored of Trump.
In every state so far, the former president’s margin of victory has been in double digits.
The battle for the nomination is all over, bar the shouting.
Haley isn’t quitting

Republican presidential candidate former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley speaking at an election night event, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, in Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
A few weeks ago, there were real questions as to whether Haley would pull out of the race before the South Carolina primary.
Then Trump allies predicted a heavy defeat here would bring the end.
It didn’t.
Haley’s speech in the Palmetto State amounted to an adamant declaration that she will battle on, until at least Super Tuesday.
She earned one of the biggest cheers of the night when she noted her previous promises to keep going and added, “I’m a woman of my word.”
Her rationale is that she is not going to “give up this fight” when so many Americans are unenthused about a match-up between President Biden and Trump.
Haley, ratcheting up her rhetoric, suggested such a bilious race would mean that “America will come apart.”
The former governor had her best fundraising month so far in January, so she has the resources to keep going. And, she has her ardent supporters too — albeit not enough of them to really loosen Trump’s grip on the nomination.
One supporter here, Nell Parker, told The Hill that Haley should stay in “as long as she has the money to keep the lights on.”
The GOP is now the MAGA Party

Signs are seen before former President Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., on Saturday, February 24, 2024.
It isn’t just Trump’s margin of victory that shows his dominance of the party.
It’s that most Republican voters in South Carolina share his entire worldview.
The Associate Press’s “VoteCast” voter survey showed, at least in its early results, that around six in 10 GOP voters in the Palmetto State oppose continued U.S. aid to Ukraine. That was bad news for Haley, and striking in a state with a strong military tradition.
Around seven in 10 GOP voters in the state accept Trump’s argument that the various investigations into his conduct are attempts to undermine him, according to the survey.
Given those numbers, it’s no surprise that around 6 in 10 Republicans here consider themselves to be supporters of the MAGA movement.
The GOP, for good or ill, is Trump’s party now.
Trump’s rhetoric still raises red flags for the general election

Former President Trump speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., on Saturday, February 24, 2024.
The questions about Trump’s electability in November won’t go away despite the margins he racks up in Republican primaries.
That’s not only because of the 91 criminal charges he faces. It’s also because of his propensity to inflame.
He displayed that tendency once again on the eve of the primary here, when he addressed the annual gala of the Black Conservative Federation on Friday.
Trump said Black Americans had “embraced” his mugshot and — very clumsily — sought to suggest Black voters would see common ground over his indictments.
“I got indicted for nothing, for something that is nothing,” Trump said. “And a lot of people said that’s why the 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. It’s been pretty amazing but possibly, maybe, there’s something there.”
The following morning, Haley blasted those comments after casting her ballot in Kiawah Island, S.C.
“It’s disgusting but this is what happens when Donald Trump goes off the teleprompter. That’s the chaos that comes with Donald Trump. That’s the offensiveness that will come every day until the general election,” she predicted.
Of course one more controversy won’t peel away supporters who have stuck with Trump now. But his rhetoric — often uncouth, at best — hampers his chances of winning over persuadable voters.
As Democrats often note, Trump lost the popular vote in both 2016 and 2020.
Haley’s attacks could hinder Trump beyond the GOP base

Haley’s attacks aren’t hindering Trump in his march to the GOP nomination, but they could resonate with moderates and help Democrats make their case in November against the former president.
In her speech Saturday, Haley objected to Trump’s use of the term “vermin” to describe his political opponents.
In the days leading up to the primary, she said Trump could not win a general election; accused him of having “sided” with Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent comments about NATO; characterized him as a narcissist and mocked him for never having served in uniform.
Trump allies want Haley out of the race in part because of the damage she could cause with those kinds of comments. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) made this argument directly when she spoke with The Hill at Trump’s Friday rally in Rock Hill, S.C.
The former president, however, has killed the threat of Haley winning more votes than him.
But Haley’s words, perfect material for Democratic attack ads, could still hurt him in the run-up November.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
South-Carolina
Nancy Mace’s foul-mouthed airport tirades roil race for South Carolina governorship as rival slams ‘spoiled brat’
New disclosures of a foul-mouthed tirade by Rep. Nancy Mace in the Charleston airport have roiled the South Carolina governor’s race and ignited angry accusations between the lawmaker and one of her competitors in the Republican primary.
Her rival, state AG Alan Wilson, called Mace a “spoiled brat” who treats cops like “servants,” at a time when the two of them are furiously competing for support from voters – and President Trump.
Mace back in August called herself “Trump in high heels” and acknowledged “I would really like his support for governor.” So far, Trump hasn’t given it – to anybody.
Mace this week slammed an internal Charleston Airport Authority investigation that probed her profanity-laced “spectacle” Oct. 30, when Mace chewed out police officers and TSA agents over expedited security for her outbound flight, after a planned VIP escort fell through.
New details are still coming to light – including an earlier incident in April where Mace allegedly blew up at agents who wouldn’t let her bring a family member through expedited security, according to the investigation report.
“This is the only airport that gives me s–t,” she complained, according to one of the numerous law enforcement officers interviewed as part of the probe.
The investigative report was obtained by The Post through a public documents request.
One interviewed TSA agent quotes Mace as telling a cop following the botched Oct. 30 escort for her arrival at an airport gate, “I’m sick of your s–t, I’m tired of having to wait.”
Another officer, an explosives tech, described Mace as being “very nasty, very rude.” She said she could hear Mace calling police officers “f–king idiots” and “f–king incompetent” and stating that she was a “f–king representative.”
Yet the airport was “not busy at all” at the time of the incident, the officer said.
A TSA agent said during the interaction Mace “literally was on that phone talking and texting her life away” as well as “saying rude things,” according to the investigative report.
One TSA officer who had been at the airport 23 years told investigators “every VIP or whomever, dignitary, that we’ve been across and had to deal with, we never, never had this problem.”
Mace hired an attorney and threatened weeks ago to sue the airport over the October incident, but has yet to do so.
The report revealed the April confrontation when agents wouldn’t let Mace bring a family member through expedited security. TSA later let her take family members with her when she got screened.
“I thought that the way she acted showed a sense of entitlement – [that] she is entitled to special protection, she is entitled to special treatment. When she doesn’t get special treatment, she throws a tantrum. To me that harkens back to a child not getting their way,” Wilson told The Post in an interview.
“These are public servants, not personal servants,” he said of law enforcement at the airport.
Mace told CNN in an interview this week the report had been “falsified,” without providing evidence. In response to Wilson’s “brat” comment, she wrote: “Imagine being ‘Attorney General’ and flying 500 miles for the sole purpose of dismissing death threats against a single mom.”
She told The Post she has received numerous credible death threats, and said on Friday a judge denied bond to a man accused of making online threats against her. She said during the April incident TSA had violated its own policy allowing federal officials to bring a guest and separated her from her child.
Mace has been taking her case to the airwaves in a week where she trashed the House Republican leadership in a Washington Post op-ed.
A consultant to Mace’s campaign, Austin McCubbin, resigned Dec. 1, accusing her of turning her back on MAGA and trying to “hug the political cactus that is the [Sen.] Rand Paul [and Rep.] Thomas Massie wing of the Party.”
South-Carolina
A Stronger Rail Network Is a Win for South Carolina’s Economy – FITSNews
“The combined rail system would offer the reliability our business community has been asking for…”
by NATHAN BALLENTINE
***
For as long as I’ve served in the South Carolina House, I’ve believed that strong infrastructure is the backbone of a strong economy. Whether talking about roads, bridges, broadband, or freight mobility, our ability to efficiently move people and goods determines how competitive our state will be in the decades ahead. South Carolina continues to grow at one of the fastest rates in the country, and with that growth comes a responsibility to ensure our logistics network can meet the demands of modern commerce.
That is why the proposed merger between Union Pacific (UP) and Norfolk Southern (NS) deserves thoughtful consideration, not just at the national level, but here at home. South Carolina’s economic success is directly tied to reliable freight transportation. From advanced manufacturing in the Upstate, to the distribution and warehousing centers in the Midlands, to the countless businesses that depend on steady supply chains, every region of our state relies on a freight system that works smoothly and predictably.
When freight rail is fragmented across multiple networks, bottlenecks and delays become far more common. Businesses, especially those operating with tight production schedules and narrow delivery windows, feel the impacts immediately. A delayed railcar can throw off inventory planning, disrupt operations, and create ripple effects that stretch across an entire supply chain. These unpredictable slowdowns can be enormously costly for the companies that keep South Carolina’s economy moving.
***
The Union Pacific–Norfolk Southern merger aims to address many of these longstanding challenges. By creating a unified network connecting more than 50,000 miles of track and linking 43 states with over 100 ports nationwide, the combined rail system would offer something our business community has been asking for: reliability. Studies indicate the merger could generate approximately $1 billion in annual cost savings and improve freight-car velocity by around 10 percent. These aren’t abstract figures, they reflect tangible improvements that would strengthen operations for employers, distributors, retailers, and consumers alike.
***
“Economic development teams would also have an even stronger pitch when attracting new employers to South Carolina…”
***
A more dependable rail network means companies can plan with greater precision, suppliers can manage logistics with fewer surprises, and transportation partners can commit to schedules with increased confidence. Economic development teams would also have an even stronger pitch when attracting new employers to South Carolina: not just a skilled workforce and business-friendly climate, but a transportation network capable of supporting long-term growth.
Improved rail performance also benefits South Carolina’s infrastructure more broadly. Rail is one of the most efficient ways to move goods long distances. Every shipment that travels by rail instead of truck reduces congestion on our highways, lowers fuel costs, and decreases wear and tear on roads that taxpayers ultimately fund. Better rail capacity complements, rather than replaces, our ongoing efforts to invest in roads and bridges across the state. It allows us to stretch transportation dollars further and focus on the improvements most needed in fast-growing communities.
Another important factor is competitiveness. States across the Southeast are aggressively investing in logistics infrastructure to position themselves as national leaders in manufacturing and distribution. If South Carolina wants to stay ahead, and continue attracting companies that create stable, high-quality jobs, we must support improvements that strengthen the reliability and efficiency of our freight network. The Union Pacific–Norfolk Southern merger presents an opportunity to do just that.
***
RELATED | SOURCES: S.C. LAWMAKERS THREATEN SUPREME COURT
***
As someone who has spent nearly two decades advocating for responsible, forward-looking growth in our state, I believe that modernizing our freight system is not just a transportation issue, it is an economic necessity. Ensuring that goods can move quickly, safely, and predictably is fundamental to the success of our businesses and the financial well-being of South Carolina families.
Federal regulators will ultimately determine the path forward, and their review should be thorough and transparent. But from where I sit, the potential benefits to our state are clear. A more integrated, efficient rail system will help South Carolina businesses compete, help consumers by keeping costs lower, and help our state maintain the strong economic momentum we’ve built over the past decade.
A stronger rail network means a stronger South Carolina, and that is a future we should fully support.
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

Nathan Ballentine represents the citizens of House District 71 in the S.C. General Assembly.
***
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South-Carolina
LIVE: SC AG Alan Wilson, state, national leaders hold press conference on statewide drug busts
Statehouse Reporter Mary Green will have more on this tonight.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) – South Carolina Attorney General and other officials will be holding a press conference Friday at 9:30 a.m. to talk about statewide drug busts.
Wilson is set to be joined by South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel, representatives from the Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security, as well as several local sheriffs and other law enforcement partners.
Watch the full press conference in the video above.
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