Margin of Trump’s victory shows his grip on the Republican party is tightening

Published

3 months ago

February 25, 2024

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It was no cliffhanger.

Donald Trump was always going to win the South Carolina primary, it was simply a matter of margin – margin of victory and margin of Republican shift.

This result moves the party’s centre of gravity yet further, from traditional to Trump.

It strengthens his status as Republican nominee-in-waiting, as a movement waits for Nikki Haley’s next move.

She has pledged to fight on – “I’m a woman of my word” – but the question is: for how long?

Before this primary, her game plan had been to get as far as ‘Super Tuesday’, the 5 March when the results of 16 states are declared and candidates can secure most ‘single-day’ party support.

In theory, Super Tuesday can turn the contest on its axis.

Team Haley’s trouble is there was nothing super about Saturday in South Carolina, her home state, to suggest a winning trajectory.

They will assess what this result says about her longer-term prospects and so will financial backers forever pondering when to stop writing cheques and write her off.

In a losing race, they have seen reason to back the tortoise against the hare.

Around a third of Republican Party members don’t support Trump and their number would increase if he is convicted.

In those circumstances, Nikki Haley has exploited the primary campaign stage to define herself as an alternative choice.

Should Donald Trump be forced to pull out, she would be handily placed as a last-standing alternative with delegate support in the bank.

Her continued pursuit of the party nomination has antagonised Republicans supporting, and resigned to, Donald Trump.

A party establishment rallied around the running favourite is offended by an increasingly belligerent challenger writing scripts for Democrat attack ads but it would, doubtless, be placated by polls that position Nikki Haley as a better bet to beat Joe Biden.

It is a case for Nikki Haley but not one that carries support in winning numbers, far from it. How far she continues is the serious question now.

If she quits before the month is out, this will have been the shortest contested presidential primary since the nomination process, as we know it, began (beating the Democratic race in 2004, which ended on 3 March).

In America’s story of the presidential race 2024, there is much about South Carolina that has felt like a footnote – possibly because it is.

World

Brother of Israeli soldier taken hostage by Hamas says last seven months have been ‘a nightmare’

Published

2 hours ago

May 24, 2024

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Brother of Israeli soldier taken hostage by Hamas says last seven months have been 'a nightmare'

The brother of an Israeli soldier taken hostage on 7 October – whose frightening capture was recorded for a video released this week – said the last seven months have been “a nightmare for my family”.

Amit Levy, the brother of 19-year-old Naama, told Sky’s The World With Yalda Hakim that the dialogue in the video “makes [his] stomach hurt”.

Ms Levy was one of five female soldiers who were taken by Hamas from their base on the morning of 7 October.

The women worked at the Nahal Oz observation base, monitoring activity on the Gaza border.

At the start of the video, some appear bloodied and injured with all five having their hands tied behind their backs.

In a later part of the video, the female soldiers are hurried out of the building – one is limping and another is carried out.

Their families released the video, which has been edited in places, on Thursday to put pressure on the Israeli government.

Mr Levy said: “Many of the [hostages] can still be saved. That’s why we released this video because the world may have forgotten a little bit.”

He said their parents did not watch the video for several weeks “because it was too hard”.

The family has also not received any proof of life since November when released hostages said Ms Levy was in a condition “which wasn’t the best”.

Her brother said: “We are trying to stay optimistic, I believe with all of my heart that she’s still alive, that she can still be saved. We’re optimistic about her being alive.”

World

Bodies of three hostages taken from southern Israel on 7 October found in Gaza, IDF says

Published

2 hours ago

May 24, 2024

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Bodies of three hostages taken from southern Israel on 7 October found in Gaza, IDF says

The bodies of three more hostages killed on 7 October have been found in Gaza, Israel’s army has said.

The Hostages Families Forum named them as Michel Nisenbaum, Hanan Yablonka, and Oryon Hernandez Radoux – and said their bodies had been returned to Israel for burial.

“The sorrowful return of Michel, Hanan, and Oryon is another heartbreak for the 125 families of the hostages, who share the pain, sorrow, and endless worry,” it said in a statement.

“Their return for burial provides important closure for the family members, and efforts must be made to bring all the murdered hostages back to Israel.”

The bodies were identified by medical officials at the Israeli National Forensic Institute and the Israeli police, the military said.

Michel Nisenbaum, 59, was a Brazilian-Israeli citizen from Sderot who was taken by Hamas as he sought to rescue his four-year-old granddaughter, according to the hostages group.

He had two daughters and six grandchildren, the youngest of whom he never had a chance to meet.

Hanan Yablonka, 42 and from Tel Aviv, was a “devoted and loving father” to Yarin, 9, and Emily, 12.

He was attending the Nova festival when he was captured on 7 October, when Hamas paraglided over the border into southern Israel and killed 1,200 people – becoming the bloodiest day in the country’s history. About 250 people were abducted.

Oryon Hernandez Radoux, 30 and a French-Mexican citizen, was at the Nova festival with his partner, Shani Louk, and their friend Keshet Casarotti. Both Louk and Casarotti were killed by Hamas militants.

It comes after the bodies of four others were discovered last week.

They included Ron Benjamin, 53, Itzhak Gelerenter, 56, Amit Buskila, 28, and Shani Louk, 22.

Around half of the hostages taken on 7 October have been freed, most in swaps for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel during a weeklong cease-fire in November.

Israel says around 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to both eliminate Hamas – the militant group ruling Gaza – and bring all the hostages back, but he’s made little progress.

He faces pressure to resign, and the US has threatened to scale back its support over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

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World

London-born teenager to become a saint after miracle recognised by the Pope

Published

2 hours ago

May 24, 2024

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London-born teenager to become a saint after miracle recognised by the Pope

A London-born teenager is set to become the first millennial to be made a saint after he has had a second miracle attributed to him by Pope Francis.

Carlo Acutis, who died of leukaemia in 2006, aged 15, was beatified in 2020 after appearing to have cured a Brazilian boy, Mattheus Vianna, of a serious birth defect which left him unable to keep down his food.

That miracle, which dates back to February 2014, saw the boy being “fully cured” after he touched Carlo’s relic and said “stop vomiting”, a priest and family friend of Mattheus’s said.

The second miracle saw a girl from Costa Rica who was studying in Italy reportedly being healed after suffering a head trauma.

She was reportedly cured by the boy after he was invoked by her mother, Avvenire, the daily newspaper of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), reports.

Pope Francis took the decision to attribute the second miracle to Carlo during a meeting with the head of the Vatican’s saint-making department, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro.

Carlo was informally known as “God’s influencer” as he used his computer skills to spread the Catholic faith.

Born in London, Carlo grew up in Milan where he took care of his parish website and later of a Vatican-based academy.

The attribution of a second miracle means the boy can now be elevated to sainthood, but the Vatican did not say when this would happen.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that only God performs miracles, but that saints who are believed to be with God in heaven intercede on behalf of people who pray to them.

Typically, miracles are the medically inexplicable healing of a person.

Due to his “important role in evangelisation through the internet”, Carlo was named as a patron of last year’s World Youth Day in Lisbon, organisers of the event said.