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While Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is currently Donald Trump's biggest rival for the GOP nomination, the former president might need to contend with Nikki Haley or Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) if DeSantis flames out early for any reason. On Saturday, he went to their home turf for a display of massive power. In Pickens, SC (pop. 3,370), he held a rally that drew an estimated 50,000 people, including many from other counties and other states. He took over the entire town. The spirit of grift that infuses all of Trump's activities caught on with many locals. Some homeowners were charging attendees $100 to park in their front yards and one local pizzeria tried to pre-sell spots in its parking lot on Facebook. Other people sold folding chairs and cold drinks to people who had been standing in the withering heat and humidity since early morning to hear Trump. Contrast this with Georgia, where it is illegal to give a free bottle of water to people standing in line for hours in order to vote.
Someone in Trump's campaign chose the location for Trump's first early-state rally wisely. Trump got 75% of the vote in Pickens County, which borders western North Carolina, is just a few miles from northeast Georgia, and is only 100 miles from Ducktown, TN, as the duck flies. The whole area is rural and very Trumpy.
The message to Haley and Scott was clear: I am going to crush you in South Carolina and you will be forced to drop out the next day, so why not save yourself the trouble and just drop out now? Hope springs eternal, so neither one will do that. Besides, Haley isn't running for president. She's running for vice president with DeSantis. Scott is apparently just bored with life as a senator so he is running because he has nothing better to do.
Trump has another advantage in South Carolina that he lacks elsewhere: endorsements. The governor and three U.S. representatives have endorsed him. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has also endorsed Trump, but when he took the stage as a warm-up act, the crowd booed him and called him a traitor (because he once called Trump a "race-baiting xenophobic religious bigot"). In most other states, Republican officials are dividing their time between their offices and their churches, where they are praying that Trump somehow magically goes away and leaves the race.
Other warm-up acts included Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC), Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette (R-SC), and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). They all praised Trump, as expected.
The rally was nominally a celebration of Independence Day, which is generally an upbeat celebration of America in most places. Trump nevertheless painted a dark picture of America, full of corrupt law-enforcement officials. He also claimed—without a shred of evidence—that Joe Biden has taken bribes from foreign countries. Trump knows that if you tell a lie often enough with a straight face, people will start to believe it.
Naturally, Trump dwelled on his indictments and called them politically motivated. He also called his opponents sick people and degenerates who were "running our country to the ground," and mentioned DeSantis, Haley, and Scott. DeSantis and Haley were met with boos; Scott was met with a polite reaction. Other than mentions of his rivals and Revolutionary War hero Andrew Pickens, for whom the town is named, it was Trump's standard rambling stump speech.
The crowd was enthusiastic. One woman, Sue Beers, said she had been to 10 Trump events. She also said: "We're here to pray for his protection. He's not our Savior. Jesus is our Savior. He's just a man. We believe he's been called by God to help our nation." (V)