Trump predicts ‘gigantic victory’ in SC at final rally ahead of Republican primary

ROCK HILL, S.C. (WIS) - Polls will open Saturday morning across South Carolina for the state’s First-in-the-South Republican presidential primary.

Hours before, the two leading candidates, former President Donald Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, both made multiple stops across the state Friday in their final pitches to voters.

At Winthrop Coliseum in Rock Hill, the mentality from Trump down to his supporters was that his victory in South Carolina on Saturday is a given.

So they want to win big in the Palmetto State.

“We’re gonna have a gigantic victory here in South Carolina. We’re gonna show crooked Joe Biden and the radical left Democrats that we are coming like a freight train in November,” Trump predicted to cheers from the crowd.

Trump cast doubts, without offering any evidence, on whether President Joe Biden could legitimately beat him in November, echoing his repeatedly disproven claim that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election, which Biden won.

“The only way it can end where they win is a rigged election, because what they did in 2020 is disgraceful, and look what happened to our country,” Trump said.

Despite saying he was looking beyond Saturday’s primary and onto November, Trump still spent part of his hour-and-a-half-long speech attacking his main Republican primary opponent, Haley, whom Trump appointed as his ambassador to the United Nations.

At that time, Haley was still South Carolina governor, and current Gov. Henry McMaster, a longtime Trump ally, was serving as her lieutenant governor.

“I gave her the job at the United Nations 90% for one reason: Because I wanted that man, Henry McMaster and maybe more importantly his wife, Peggy, to be the governor and the first lady of the great state of South Carolina,” Trump said.

After a January in which campaign finance reports show Haley brought in more money than Trump for the first time, the former president took a shot at his rival’s fundraising, with no proof to back up his claims.

“Nikki Haley is relying on Democrats and liberals. You know Democrats are financing her campaign,” Trump said to boos.

Polling has consistently indicated Trump has a sizable lead over Haley in her home state.

Trump supporters at Friday’s rally said they think the race in South Carolina is all but over.

“I think it’s going to be a big one, I really do,” Vanessa Farnell of Fort Mill said.

“I think you’ll see he’s just going to obliterate the polls, obliterate the vote in South Carolina,” David Gunn of Rock Hill added.

South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, a one-time rival turned Trump backer in this race, told the crowd of several thousand at Friday’s rally that the race is Trump’s to lose.

“Tomorrow let South Carolina send a message to all of America: The Republican primary is over, and Donald Trump is our nominee!” Scott said.

Trump boasts significant backing among many of South Carolina’s leading politicians.

Along with Scott, supporters joining him at Friday’s rally included Gov. Henry McMaster, Attorney General Alan Wilson, and four of the state’s seven US representatives.

Looming over the Trump campaign are the federal and state indictments the former president faces, including for his alleged role in trying to overturn the 2020 election results.

On Friday, some supporters denied the legitimacy of those 90-plus criminal charges and said they are not worried about the potential for them to derail his campaign.

“I think that’s just, like he says, the witch hunt,” Farnell said.

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