Trump vows to ‘get even’ with Haley in New Hampshire victory speech

Former president dedicates most of his victory speech to bashing and mocking his Republican rival

Despite Donald Trump declaring victory in the New Hampshire Republican primary on Tuesday, he spent most of his speech and time on social media bashing his political opponent, Nikki Haley.

Rather than thank voters or commend Ms Haley’s performance – which is what the former UN ambassador did in her speech – Mr Trump said Ms Haley “failed badly” and mocked her for giving a speech.

Joined by former presidential candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Tim Scott, Mr Trump invited Mr Ramaswamy to give his own remarks about Ms Haley, saying he was “the only person more angry, let’s say, than me”.

“But I don’t get too angry, I get even,” Mr Trump added – a commonly used threat by the former president.

Later on in his speech, the former president claimed that Ms Haley would “be under investigation within minutes” if she won.

Though Mr Trump did not elaborate on his threat nor his claim that Ms Haley should be investigated, his intimidation tactics are not new. He often deploys similar threats to his opponents or the judges and Justice Department officials who are investigating him for various alleged crimes.

Mr Trump spent most of the rest of his speech lashing out at Ms Haley and her campaign. He insinuated New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, who endorsed Ms Haley, was on drugs because of his energy levels.

Even as the election was being called in Mr Trump’s favour on Tuesday evening, he lashed out at Ms Haley on his social media platform, Truth Social, calling her “delusional” and declaring she would not win in the next primary in Nevada.

Mr Trump is the current 2024 Republican frontrunner and obtained more than half of voters’ support in New Hampshire, according to early polling data.

However, Ms Haley outperformed expectations and trailed Mr Trump by a much narrower margin than his win in Iowa last week.

New Hampshire is a less ultra-conservative state than Iowa and in counties where President Joe Biden won in 2020, Ms Haley picked up voter’s support. The former UN ambassador has positioned herself as an alternative conservative candidate to Mr Trump who has a bevvy of criminal and civil trials stacked against him this year.

Mr Trump and his allies have called on other candidates to drop out of the race as the former president emerges as a clear victor. However, Ms Haley said she would not drop out just yet and plans to make it to the South Carolina primary next month.