Trump has become the last Republican standing in the 2024 primary. Here’s how he bulldozed the field

By MICHELLE L. PRICE
Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Donald Trump is now the last major Republican candidate for president who’s still standing. He’s outlasted more than a dozen challengers now that Nikki Haley bowed out on Wednesday. The former president refused to appear with his rivals at debates. He attacked the strongest of them on his own social media site and during large rallies where he spoke uninterrupted for hours. Trump retained the support of many early-state Republican voters who saw him as an incumbent and endorsed his false theories of voter fraud from the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. They also agreed that he’s being unfairly targeted by federal and state prosecutors.