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Former President Donald Trump after victory in New Hampshire: "She won't win"

Photo: Timothy A. Clary / AFP

Former US President Donald Trump has taken the next important step on the way to returning to the White House.

In the Republican race for the presidential nomination, Trump won the primary in the state of New Hampshire with a clear victory over the only remaining serious competitor, Nikki Haley.

The AP news agency and several US media outlets reported this unanimously, citing their own forecasts.

The 77-year-old used his victory speech to launch a verbal attack against Haley.

"She's doing a victory lap, and we beat her so clearly," Trump said of Haley on Tuesday evening in Nashua.

She is an impostor who claims victory for herself.

The former US ambassador to the United Nations had previously said in a speech that she would continue to fight for her party's candidacy.

"She won't win," Trump countered.

Haley was defeated in New Hampshire, although she benefited from a less radical conservative electorate there.

But she did better than surveys had previously suggested.

For Haley, second place in the primary is still a setback.

Iron party base for the ex-president

To gain real momentum in the race for the candidacy, she would have had to win in New Hampshire.

The 52-year-old, who as a diplomat once had to represent Trump's confrontational foreign policy on the international stage, is seen by the public as more politically moderate than her former boss and is also much more moderate in her rhetoric.

After Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dropped out of the race shortly before the vote, Republicans consider her to be the only serious opponent to Trump.

The fact that Trump won there again shows once again how strong his support is among the party base.

There are four criminal proceedings against the Republican - including because of his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

Despite the legal problems, Trump has not lost any of his popularity among his supporters.

The victory in New Hampshire makes another duel between him and Biden in the coming presidential election more likely.

Anyone who wants to become a presidential candidate in the USA must first prevail in internal party primaries.

The candidates are then officially chosen at party conferences in the summer.

The actual presidential election is on November 5th.

mrc/dpa