Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has left former UN ambassador Nikki Haley as Trump’s only rival in the primaries for the Republican nomination in the general elections that will take place at the end of 2024 in the United States. DeSantis has thus ended his weakened presidential campaign and has endorsed Donald Trump just two days before the crucial New Hampshire primary.

DeSantis’ decision, less than a week after his deflating defeat to Trump in Iowa despite huge investment there, culminating in a stunning fall from grace after DeSantis was widely seen as the Republicans’ most promising alternative to Trump ahead of the November general election.

In a video posted on X, DeSantis endorsed Trump while giving Haley a sendoff. “You have my support because we cannot return to the old Republican guard of yesteryear: a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents,” DeSantiss said.

At a rally Sunday afternoon in Rochester, New Hampshire, Trump, who spent much of the last year attacking DeSantis, praised the governor and said he looked forward to working together to defeat President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee. Trump accused Haley of forming a “unholy alliance” with liberalsnever Trumpers and RINOs, or Republicans in name only, to try to win the New Hampshire primary, and repeated a false claim that registered Democrats were allowed to vote in the Republican primary.

Trump has an advantage of double digits on Haley in New Hampshire, according to polls, and his campaign hopes that a second consecutive victory will make his eventual nomination all but inevitable. He also has a large lead in South Carolina, where the vote will be held on February 24.

A Haley loss in her home state, where she was governor from 2011 to 2017, would probably doom his campaign to failure. At a campaign event in Seabrook, New Hampshire, Haley drew applause when she announced that DeSantis had retired.

Early last year, DeSantis was considered a leading presidential contender and a natural heir to Trump due to his combative style and his deeply conservative views. He led several head-to-head polls against Trump. But his support had been waning for several months, due to a flawed campaign strategy, his apparent lack of comfort with voters on the campaign trail and Trump’s so-far unbreakable dominance over much of the party’s base. More than 70% of Republicans have a favorable opinion of Trump, according to most polls.

That forced DeSantis to try to appeal to voters who still admired Trump, as well as those who passionately disliked him. However, he failed on both counts. He never managed to explain to most Trump supporters why he was a better choice, while Republicans who They sought to get rid of the former president, they divided their votes between multiple candidates.