Nikki who? Trump pivots to fall rematch with Biden after crushing Haley in her home state

Fresh from humiliating Nikki Haley in her home state of South Carolina, Donald Trump is pivoting from primary candidate to a keenly familiar role: presumptive Republican presidential nominee itching for a rematch with Joe Biden.

Trump tightened his grip on his third straight GOP nomination with a crushing win over Haley in the Palmetto State on Saturday night, his fifth straight victory to open the 2024 primary election season.

And during a whirlwind day, Trump jetted from the CPAC confab where he hob-nobbed with conservatives in the nation's capital to the frontlines of the campaign where he courted Southern voters. Throughout, America's 45th president made a clear pivot to the general election and the themes he hopes will return him to the White House.

Trump painted himself as a persecuted political opposition leader facing more than 90 felony charges levied by Democrat-led prosecutors but nonetheless determined to restore security and prosperity to an America wrecked by Joe Biden.

"I stand before you today not only as your past and future president, but as a proud political dissident,” Trump told an adoring CPAC crowd at a suburban Washington hotel where he clinched his record 7th straw poll victory before trouncing Haley in South Carolina.

“For hard-working Americans. Nov. 5 will be our new liberation day — but for the liars and cheaters and fraudsters and censors and impostors who have commandeered our government, it will be their judgment day,' he declared.

Trump has the luxury to pivot to the fall election in part because his lead in the Real Clear Politics polling average in the rest of the country stands at 57.9%.  He could very well sew up the necessary 1,215 delegates need to win the nomination by late March.

Trump's CPAC speech -- like his victory address in South Carolina -- reprised his favorite policies from his improbable 2016 run: invigorating an economy stunted by Democrats bloated federal spending, making cities safe from crime and securing a lawless border.

"We're going to have to do this fast because no country can sustain what's happening in our country," he said Saturday, addressing the crisis of illegal migration just hours after a Venezuelan man who crossed America's border illegally, then got parole from the Biden administration was arrested in the grisly murder of a University of Georgia nursing students. "You look at New York where I originally came from. I love New York and you take a look at what's happening … they've taken over the whole city."

Trump's win was convincing in South Carolina, defeating a woman who ruled two terms as governor in the state by more than 20 points. As they did in Iowa and New Hampshire, exit polls confirmed that Trump's focus on the border was hitting home: immigration was identified as the No. 1 issue among South Carolina voters by a wide margin.

Trump also made clear in a weekend of campaigning that he plans to wear his criminal indictments in four separate cases as a badge of honor, akin to what political dissidents like the late Alexei Navalny in Russia and the late Nelson Mandela of South Africa did. He argued, in fact, his prosecutions and mug shot had created sympathy for him in black America.

"I got indicted for nothing, for something that is nothing,” Trump told a formal dinner Friday night for black conservatives in South Carolina. “And a lot of people said that’s why the Black people like me, because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as I’m being discriminated against. It’s been pretty amazing but possibly, maybe, there’s something there."

As for Biden, Trump upped his barrage on the mental and physical fitness of the Democrat who beat him four years ago while trying to turn the race card around on Joe Biden by suggesting his policies over five decades of pubic service have been hurtful to blacks.

"On top of everything else, Joe. Biden really has proven to be a very nasty and vicious racist. He's been a racist whether you like it or don't like it.," he said.

Trump's campaign will keep his primary endeavors going with Michigan's primary around the corner next Tuesday. But the focus now shifts to general election needs, including installing a Republican National Committee leadership he trusts for the November contest. And that means, wasting little time addressing anything having to do with Haley.

"I’m really thinking about we have to beat Joe Biden," he told Fox News Digital in a short post-victory interview Saturday night. "I don’t know if she’s in the race at all."

And like an impatient businessman forged in Manhattan's rough-and-tumble real estate markets, Trump also made clear he has little time to rest on the laurels of Saturday's win.

“You can celebrate for about 15 minutes, but then we have to get back to work,” Trump joked with supporters in his victory speech.