DC Republicans tell Nikki Haley: The race is over, Donald Trump won

Nikki Haley is fighting on in the Republican presidential primary, but the mood among Washington’s Republicans is clear: this race is over.

While Speaker Mike Johnson has been on the Trump train for months, the leadership of the Senate Republican caucus has long been a source of resistance to some of the harder-right aspects of Trumpism and Donald Trump’s rhetoric which flirts with the kind of authoritarian yearnings often expressed outright by his supporters.

If any of that resistance remains, it’s not showing this week as Republicans react to a second victory by the former president in the primary contest; this time in New Hampshire, where he won an 11-point victory over Nikki Haley, his last remaining prominent challenger. Ms Haley did better than some polling expected, but still heads into a contest in Nevada and her home state of South Carolina after that without a single clear victory over Mr Trump or even Ron DeSantis, who has now dropped out.

With New Hampshire in the rearview mirror, Mr Trump’s last remaining foes within the Republican factions on Capitol Hill are joining the voices declaring the 2024 primary effectively over.

The clearest signal of that direction came from Mitch McConnell, who according to Punchbowl News referred to Mr Trump as “the nominee” during a closed-door meeting of Senate Republicans on Wednesday. His use of that descriptor comes as the former president is now reported to be urging Republicans in Congress to kill a deal being sought with Democrats on funding for border security, negotiations which Mr McConnell has supported.

Other allies of Mr McConnell, who has yet to formally endorse Mr Trump’s candidacy, have thrown their support overtly behind the man they once accused of fomenting