NORTH CHARLESTON — Former President Donald Trump touted Wednesday that Vladimir Putin prefers that he lose, telling supporters it shows that the Russian president knows he won’t get his way under another Trump administration.

The comments followed Trump doubling down on suggesting he would not protect NATO allies from Russian attacks if they don’t meet a military spending benchmark.

Putin “just said he’d much rather have Joe Biden as president than Trump. A lot of people said, ‘Oh gee, that’s too bad.’ No, no, that’s a good thing. That’s a compliment. Of course, he’d say that,” Trump told a crowd of over 1,000 people 10 days before South Carolina’s GOP presidential primary. Early voting is already underway.

In Moscow earlier Wednesday, Putin said in an interview he’d prefer a second term of President Joe Biden, calling him more experienced and more predictable, while adding he’d work with whoever won.

Trump alleged that’s because Biden will give Putin what he wants, even as he blasted Biden for wanting to send tens of billions more in aid to Ukraine — on top of the billions and “colossal amounts of our own weaponry and ammunition” already sent — to defend itself from Russia.

If he had won in 2020, Trump said, Russia would not have invaded Ukraine.

“He’s going to have his dream of having Ukraine because of Biden,” Trump said of Putin. “That’s a war that never would have happened. Under the Trump administration, we’ll return to peace through strength.”

That apparently involves threatening to not protect NATO allies that don’t spend 2% of their gross domestic product on their own military defense, a benchmark that members agreed to meet by 2024, though most don’t.

Trump again recalled a conversation he had with the leader of a NATO country while he was president about not protecting a “delinquent” ally.

His recollection Saturday at a rally in Conway made international headlines and caused swift condemnation from U.S. officials in both parties, including Biden and his last rival left in the GOP nominating contest, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

Biden called Trump’s comments “shameful,” “dangerous,” and “un-American.”

But in North Charleston, Trump left out the part that really caused the firestorm — that he said he’d actually encourage Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” if the unnamed leader didn’t pay up.

Instead, Trump credited his warning with more countries increasing their defense spending.

“I came back six months later, I said, ‘Now you’ve had time,’” Trump said. “But one of the heads of the country stood up and said, ‘Does that mean if we don’t pay the bills, that you’re not going to protect us?’ I said, ‘That’s exactly what it means.’”

If he’d said he would protect NATO allies regardless, he said, they’d never cover their share.

Most members still don’t spend the “bare minimum of 2%” under Biden, he said, adding he thinks that benchmark is too low.

“I thought it should go up to 4%,” he said.

‘All you need to know about her’

Trump spent less time in his latest 95-minute speech attacking Haley, his first United Nations ambassador, though he did highlight polls that show his lead widening in her home state.

“The radical left Democrats want Nikki Haley because they know she’s easy to beat,” Trump said at the rally held in Haley’s home county. “Her numbers, by the way, are tanking.”

He did not repeat his questioning of her husband’s whereabouts. Her husband, Maj. Michael Haley, is deployed to Africa. Since Saturday, Haley has called the swipe part of Trump’s pattern of disrespect for the military and those who serve. Her campaign put a two-minute video of his insults on a mobile billboard that drove around the Charleston area.

At Wednesday’s rally, Trump alleged Haley used to praise his “tremendous love and respect” of the military.

“And on that one she was correct,” he said. “We love our military.’”

He also offered an explanation for mixing up Haley and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi last month — a mental blip Haley has highlighted as proof he should take a mental competency test.

“It’s very hard to be sarcastic,” he said. “I’m not a Nikki fan and I’m not a Pelosi fan. When I purposely interpose names, they say he didn’t know Pelosi from Nikki.”

In response, Haley’s campaign said Trump was simply in clean-up mode all night.

“It’s the same script every time: Donald Trump says something unhinged, faces backlash, and scrambles to clean up his mess with a dirty mop,” said Haley spokesperson AnnMarie Graham-Barnes.

Gov. Henry McMaster and U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace of the coastal 1st District — who was backed by Haley against her 2022 GOP challenger — were among South Carolina Republicans who addressed the crowd before Trump took the stage. But it was a former GOP rival in the presidential contest who introduced him.

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, who’s from North Charleston, dropped out in November and endorsed Trump ahead of the New Hampshire primary in January. Scott, who never attacked Trump during his run, is considered a potential running mate.

Trump told the crowd that Scott’s a better candidate for him than he was for himself.

“He did well (in the primary), but he wasn’t as forceful as he is, because he doesn’t want to talk about himself, so interesting,” Trump said.

What voters said

Sam Fuchs, 60, of Charleston, said he’s supported Trump from “the second he ran.” He wants a businessman over a politician running the country.

Wednesday was the business executive’s first time seeing the president in person.

“My wife actually canceled our Valentine’s Day dinner, said she wanted to do this instead,” Fuchs said.

It was the first time for Cynthia Middleton, 52, of North Charleston, as well.

Middleton, who supervises a cleaning company, said she appreciated Trump’s brutal honesty.

“Of course, the border is a big issue because if our borders are not protected, we’re open to anything,” she said. “So, I know he’s definitely on day one going to get that taken care of.”

Ahead of Trump’s visit, the Democratic Party of South Carolina released a tongue-in-cheek statement.

“This Valentine’s Day, I’m urging all South Carolinians to remember just how bad things were with our ex,” said state Democratic Party Chair Christale Spain. “Broken promises, ignoring us until they needed our votes, refusing to invest in our communities the way we needed — Donald Trump’s record in South Carolina is a classic tale of heartbreak and neglect.” SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. SC Daily Gazette maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seanna Adcox for questions: info@scdailygazette.com. Follow SC Daily Gazette on Facebook and Twitter.

CONWAY — Former President Donald Trump told thousands who gathered to see him Saturday that America has declined under President Joe Biden, but with their help, he could turn things around.

“We are a nation that is no longer admired, respected or listened to on the world stage,” he said over swelling music near the end of his hour-and-a half speech at Coastal Carolina University.

“We are a nation who is collapsing into a cesspool of ruin,” he said before promising to, yes, make America great again.

The rally near Myrtle Beach was Trump’s first visit to the Palmetto State since he walked onto the field at halftime with Gov. Henry McMaster at the Clemson-South Carolina football game in November. McMaster was among supporters who spoke before Trump took the stage.

Much of Trump’s speech focused on the southern border, his ongoing legal troubles, and, of course, Biden.

Immigration claims and court cases

Even from outside the White House, Trump claimed credit for the recent defeat of a package deal for immigration policy changes and foreign aid that Biden had backed.

“We crushed Crooked Joe’s disastrous open border bill,” Trump said, alleging without evidence that the proposal negotiated for months by a trio of senators would let in “millions” of people.

Later in the program, Trump read from “The Snake,” a song written in 1963 about a snake betraying a woman who helps him. Trump interpreted it as an immigration allegory and promised to begin the largest deportation in American history, bigger than President Dwight Eisenhower’s initiative in 1954 that expelled hundreds of thousands of undocumented Mexicans.

Trump also criticized the decision announced Thursday by a U.S. Department of Justice special counsel that Biden will not face charges for mishandling classified documents from his tenure as vice president. A separate criminal case against Trump’s handling of records after leaving office is ongoing.

But Trump did seem to enjoy the report characterizing Biden as an “elderly man with a poor memory.”

“I’m not looking for anything to happen to this guy. He wouldn’t even know the difference,” Trump said. “They’ll be no revenge, no revenge. Everyone agree — no revenge?” he added, to scattered applause.

The felony charges related to classified documents at his estate in Florida is just one of several ongoing criminal cases against Trump, which he dismissed categorically as election interference — interference, he added, that has not worked.

“It’s hard to say it’s good to be indicted, but it sure has helped in the polls,” he said.

Trump also called for an end to the war in Ukraine, alleging that if he’d been re-elected in 2020, Russia would not have invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and Hamas would not have attacked Israel last October. He also continued his false claim that the 2020 election was rigged and ended his speech by calling on voters to turnout both in the primary and in November.

Criticism of Haley

Before November, though, Trump still has the Republican primary, where he effectively has just one rival left – former Gov. Nikki Haley.

Haley has trailed Trump consistently, although she’s pointed to her rising results from Iowa to New Hampshire as proof she is picking up steam. In Nevada, however, she lost to a “none of these candidates” option on the ballot. Trump participated in, and won, a separate caucus which would actually award delegates.

Although he downplayed the opposition from Haley, Trump did criticize her for wanting to raise the age for when workers in their 20s now can retire and start collecting Social Security benefits.

Trump named Haley his first United Nations ambassador, but Trump said he mainly appointed her to clear the way for McMaster, one of his earliest endorsers.

“I wanted to take your lieutenant governor, who’s right here, and make him governor,” Trump said.

His harshest criticism of Haley, though, was that she’s backed by Wall Street heavyweights.

“Haley is the candidate of globalists and warmongers,” he said.

At one point several people started shouting in protest, although the specifics were not audible to reporters in the press pen. They were quickly removed by security.

“I used to say, ‘Go get them,'” Trump said as the protestors were removed. “Then I got sued. So now I say, ‘Please treat them kindly.’”

Nikki Haley calls out Biden and Trump as bumbling, ‘grumpy old men’

Trump supporters

The rally brought out far more people than could fit in Coastal Carolina’s recreation center, which can accommodate 3,600, according to the university’s website.

Mike Adams, 58, of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, said he’s been to several Trump rallies and never managed to make it inside. He was visiting family and was once again standing in a massive line waiting to see Trump.

A retired FBI officer, Adams feels like the Department of Justice was overly politicized under Biden.

“I see him as the antidote to the problems that are going on in DC,” Adams said. “I don’t think he was prepared for what he was going to face when he got there in the first four years. I think now he’s learned some valuable lessons and be able to clean some of the rot out that’s down there.”

Shea Turner turned out for her 21st birthday with a sign saying, “It’s my 21st, let’s make Conway Great again.” Originally from Blythewood, she attends Coastal Carolina and works in the medical field.

“I’ve been a big Trump fan for a long time,” she said, noting she especially liked his promise to close the southern border. She does not agree with Haley’s call to raise the age for retirement, starting with her generation.

While Haley herself campaigned elsewhere in South Carolina on Saturday, her campaign and its new line of attack were present in Horry County. A mobile billboard drove around the Myrtle Beach area labeling Trump and Biden “grumpy old men,” playing a two-minute video of bloopers from their speeches.

“Are we running a country or a nursing home?” Haley spokeswoman Nachama Soloveichik said in a statement.

SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. SC Daily Gazette maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seanna Adcox for questions: info@scdailygazette.com. Follow SC Daily Gazette on Facebook and Twitter.

NORTH CHARLESTON — Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley told supporters Wednesday she can still win her home state’s first-in-the-South GOP contest Feb. 24, despite trailing former President Donald Trump in Iowa and New Hampshire.

“The political elites in this state and around the country have said we need to let Donald Trump just have this,” Haley said, prompting boos and shouts of “No!” from a crowd of more than 500 people. “We’ve only had two states that have voted. We have 48 to go.”

It was Haley’s first campaign event back in South Carolina since the field narrowed to her and Trump.

Haley received a little under 20% of the vote in Iowa, placing third behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. After he dropped out, she received 43% of New Hampshire’s tally on Tuesday, which was still a double-digit loss.

But she contends Trump is feeling threatened, since she started at 2% in the polls.

“He should feel threatened,” Haley said to start her roughly 40-minute speech.

Haley joked about a recent incident where Trump appeared to confuse her with Nancy Pelosi when discussing the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. What’s more important than that mental blip, Haley said about why people should vote for her instead, is that Trump focuses more on settling scores than how he’s going to make Americans’ lives better.

Both Trump and President Joe Biden represent four more years of chaos, she said.

“This is a choice between more of the same and going forward,” she said. “More of the same is not just Joe Biden. It’s Joe Biden and Donald Trump.”

She contends most voters don’t want that rematch.

On to November: Trump win in New Hampshire sets up 2024 rematch with Biden

“When you look at Joe Biden and Donald Trump, what do they talk about?” she said. “They talk about the past. They talk about grievances. They’re focused on their investigations, both of them. We don’t have time for that chaos. We just don’t.”

She was interrupted by a protester of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, who shouted, “How many kids have you killed?” before being rapidly hustled out of the hotel conference center.

“You know, I’ve never minded protestors like that,” Haley said, noting her husband, who’s in the Army National Guard, and all other military personnel fight for that freedom of speech.

James Island resident Lyn Williams said Haley’s the best choice.

“The alternatives are awful,” she said. “She’s the only candidate I’ve heard use the word ‘compromise.’”

Williams, who works in the financial industry, said she voted for Trump in 2016 and sat out the 2020 election. She thinks the criminal investigations into the former president may prevent him holding another term, giving her hope for Haley’s candidacy.

“I don’t think Mr. Trump will be available,” she said.

Jon and Evelyn Persinger came from Mount Pleasant to support Haley.

“She is the leader we have been praying for,” she said. “Someone who is normal, that has the Republican agenda, but doesn’t have Trump.”

“All the good policies without the bad attitude,” he chimed in.

Both said they’re Republicans. Evelyn works as a software engineer and Jon works in IT. For them, leadership is the key issue.

He too said Trump’s legal issues could catch up to him, giving Haley a shot.

“Who knows, it could end up being a brokered convention or something like that,” she said.

That seems to play into accusations by Trump’s supporters, including former GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who dropped out following a fourth-place finish in Iowa.

“What we see right now with her continuing in this race is the ugly underbelly of American politics, where the megadonors are trying to do one thing when we the people say another,” the Ohio entrepreneur said during Trump’s celebration Tuesday night in New Hampshire. “The only thing they’re rooting for is an ugly thing that we don’t want to see happen.” That is, he said, for Haley to stay in long enough for Trump’s legal challenges to play out.

Haley is polling about 35 percentage points behind Trump in her home state, according to the poll aggregating site 538.

But she’s undeterred.

Earlier Wednesday, Haley’s campaign announced a $4 million investment to launch her first two advertisements in South Carolina, both touting her as the alternative to a Trump-Biden rematch. In a statement, her campaign said she’s “in it for the long haul,” and announced two more rallies scheduled in South Carolina this weekend.

In 2016, the last time Republicans had a nominating contest, six candidates remained in the field by the time South Carolinians went to the polls. Trump won that contest by 10 percentage points over the candidate Haley endorsed, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who placed second.

This time, Trump and Haley are the only major candidates left.

More than a dozen Trump supporters gathered outside of Haley’s speech in protest, including Ken Moran of Georgetown.

He called Haley a neoconservative and accused Trump’s first United Nation’s ambassador of aligning with Democrats on advocating for foreign intervention.

Moran likened her to former President George W. Bush, adding he’s embarrassed that he voted for the 43rd president.

“That’s the same cloth she’s cut from,” he said, adding she should drop out. “We should be unifying and coming together as a party for the biggest win since Ronald Reagan.”

Haley has the money to keep going.

She continues to have the support of Americans for Prosperity Action, the candidate-backing arm of the group founded by prominent conservative billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, which threw their weight behind Haley in late November.

“This is still an uphill battle,” Emily Seidel, an AFP Action senior advisor, said in the statement. “Now all eyes turn to South Carolina, where (Haley) has a steeper road ahead.”

SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. SC Daily Gazette maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seanna Adcox for questions: info@scdailygazette.com. Follow SC Daily Gazette on Facebook and Twitter.

COLUMBIA — Former President Donald Trump turned the field of Williams-Brice Stadium into a giant stage as he briefly united Tigers and Gamecocks who cheered his arrival during South Carolina’s biggest rivalry game of the year.

The crowd erupted as Trump walked onto the field Saturday at the start of halftime with Gov. Henry McMaster and waved to a stadium sold out for the Palmetto Bowl.

Shouts of praise and chants of “U-S-A!” easily drowned out a scattering of boos, as the former president displayed his dominance over the 2024 presidential field without publicly saying a word. The spectacle lasted less than two minutes. Trump and McMaster walked off the field as the announcer introduced the Clemson marching band.

Trump, who attended as a guest of the governor, left the stadium immediately after walking off the field.

He arrived half an hour before the 7:30 p.m. kickoff, also to chants of “U-S-A” from supporters who packed the concourse. His entourage included McMaster, Lt. Gov. Pam Evette, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, U.S. Rep. Russell Fry, and state Treasurer Curtis Loftis. They watched the first half from a suite of supporters that included the leader of the South Carolina House, Speaker Murrell Smith of Sumter.

It was a demonstration of the support Trump’s lined up ahead of South Carolina’s crucial first-in-the-South presidential primary, which he’s expected to easily win. The Feb. 24 contest is fourth in the voting lineup following Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada.

In a release announcing that Trump would attend the game, his campaign pointed to the latest Winthrop Poll showing him 35 points ahead of South Carolina’s former governor, Nikki Haley, among Republican voters.

Ahead of the game, Trump’s campaign announced more endorsements from South Carolina GOP legislators. They included a state senator and five state House members who previously endorsed U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, who unexpectedly dropped out of the presidential primary earlier this month.

Scott’s departure leaves one South Carolinian still in the race. Haley has risen in the polls following her performances on the debate stage and will likely pick up some of Scott’s support. But even on her home turf, she remains a distant second. She’s dismissed the polls, pointing to her 2010 come-from-behind wins to become governor.

Haley, a Clemson graduate and trustee, did not attend the game.

Outside the stadium, supporters cheered the motorcade with flags and signs.

“I think it’s great that (Trump) is coming to our humble state here,” said Jessica Prestia, wearing a Trump hat and a Gamecocks jersey. “We’re the best state in the South, and he’s the best president we’ve ever had.”

Clemson won the contest 16-7, but Prestia called Trump’s attendance a win.

Tara and Cymone Littlejohn, a mother-daughter duo supporting different teams, said they hope Trump picks Haley as a running mate.

Haley has repeatedly rejected the idea, should the offer come. “I don’t play for second,” Haley has told multiple media outlets and posted on social media.

But she similarly dismissed suggestions in 2016 that she would leave the Governor’s Mansion mid-term, until she accepted Trump’s appointment as his first United Nations ambassador. Her move put then-Lt. Gov. McMaster, one of Trump’s earliest supporters, into the Governor’s Mansion.

“She is a strong contender, right?” Tara Littlejohn said. “Why wouldn’t he pick a strong female?”

Most of the political signs, flags and shirts on display outside the stadium supported Trump, but not everyone was a fan.

“I think (his visit) is indulgent,” said Christie Johnson, a Gamecocks season ticket holder who said she will support whoever is not Trump in the election.

Eight electronic billboards around Columbia sarcastically welcomed the former president.

“You lost. You’re guilty. Welcome to Columbia, Donald,” they read.

South Carolina Democratic Party spokeswoman Alyssa Bradley called Trump’s appearance a photo op that “reeks of desperation.”

“For a candidate who keeps proclaiming the primary over, Donald Trump keeps campaigning like he might have something to lose,” she said in a statement before the game. “Here’s to hoping no one on the field fumbles as badly as Donald Trump is fumbling his campaign here in South Carolina.”

South Carolina has consistently backed Trump throughout his campaigns.

In 2016, Trump won South Carolina’s GOP primary with a 10-point lead over second- and third-place finishers Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.

Trump won the state that November with 55 percent of the vote over Democrat Hillary Clinton. He also won 55 percent in South Carolina over President Joe Biden in 2020. Broken down by county, Trump won 31 of South Carolina’s 46 counties in 2016 and increased that to 33 in 2020. But his biggest loss in South Carolina came from Richland County, a Democratic stronghold in the red state. In the county that’s home to the state capital and the Gamecocks, Biden took 68 percent of the vote.

SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. SC Daily Gazette maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seanna Adcox for questions: info@scdailygazette.com. Follow SC Daily Gazette on Facebook and Twitter.