Nikki Haley. ABC News/Bloomberg/Getty.
Nikki Haley is expected to drop out of the 2024 presidential race leaving Donald Trump the presumptive nominee. ABC News. Haley was one of the first to throw her name into the race and will be the last major candidate to leave after an embarrassing Super Tuesday where she only one one state, the liberal stronghold of Vermont. Haley did outlast other major candidates, most notably Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, but was ultimately unable to gain much momentum, with the only other race she won being Washington DC. Haley isn't expected to endorse Trump despite saying she would support the eventual nominee.
My Comment:
It's been obvious since at least New Hampshire that Nikki Haley had zero chance of being the candidate, at least through non-extraordinary or tragic means. It was an open question as to why she was still in the race, especially both before and after her extremely embarrassing defeat in South Carolina. But she continued through Super Tuesday and just embarrassed herself further.
Haley was not a good fit for the current Republican Party. Indeed, she was a good example of the old guard Republicans that were largely kicked out of the party after Trump took over. Going up against the man himself was a good indication of that, as far as the majority of Republicans are convinced Trump's the head of the party and going after him is an act of disloyalty. This is also why Ron DeSantis was so loathed for much of the electorate. Since she was getting funding from the anti-Trump remnants of the GOP funding machine it was clear where her loyalties lay.
But I thought it was mostly a matter of policy. Haley was either squishy or actively opposed to much of the Republican base's desires on what they want in 2024. She wasn't going to do much for the border, she wasn't interested in reigning in the excesses of the woke left, she wasn't at all concerned with keeping America out of foreign wars and she simply did not have any views that really coincided with what the people wanted out of their candidate.
It was the foreign policy that turned me off, along with many others. Haley cared more about Ukraine's borders than the United States and was one of the biggest Ukraine warhawks running in this cycle. And that was at a time when most of the party had turned on the Ukraine war. I have always been against it, even before the war erupted, but the rest of the party either views it as Biden's mistake, or a lost cause that we shouldn't throw good money after bad over. But Haley was so upset that people were opposed to her on this issue she proposed getting rid of anonymity on the internet, something even a legit tyrant like Joe Biden hadn't even suggested.
It was that point where I resolved to never vote for Nikki Haley, even after she walked it back. To vote for someone that would screw over her own party so badly, after all internet anonymity is about the only thing that kept the GOP alive the past three years, was so beyond the pale that I couldn't pull the trigger for her. She is still better than Biden, if only slightly, but only because she wasn't senile and isn't a sex offender. But her foreign policy was indistinguishable and she crossed some lines that even Biden wouldn't cross.
Most of the Republican Party felt the same way as Haley never really had much support. Much of her support was imaginary since many of the early races, and most notably Vermont, were open primary states which meant that Democrats could vote in Republican races. And with the Democratic Primary being de facto uncontested and many people not wanting to vote for Biden regardless, many of them did. Indeed, I saw that in one of the exit polls, from Virginia I think, said that 3/4ths of her voters didn't plan on voting for her during the general election. I'd guess the only reason she got about 10 to 20 percent of the vote was because of these Democratic cross-over voters.
Haley did have a few genuine supporters, but they were not very numerous. They mostly consisted of warhawks, neocons, people that just hated Trump for whatever reason, a few centrists and, of course, upper class business Republicans. None of those groups are critical and I am guessing most of them will fall in line in November.
I don't buy the media narrative that Haley's support was dangerous to Trump in the general election. First of all, Biden is absolutely hated and I think most people would have voted for anyone just to get rid of him. Indeed, as much as I dislike Haley I'd have been less upset if she won over Joe Biden, though I would be certainly voting third party in that scenario. I'd even give Hillary Clinton or Chris Christie a fair shake over Joe Biden. Second is the aforementioned crossover Democrats that never actually supported her in the first place. They were never going to vote for the Republican candidate regardless.
Finally, I think most of her actual supporters will end up voting for Trump anyways. They may not like the guy but better him than Biden. Plus they realize that if they want any say on Trump's 2nd term, they have to play nice. I'm inclined to tell them to hit the curb, but I do acknowledge we have a common enemy in Joe Biden and we need all the help we can get. If the vast majority of DeSantis shills have managed to get back onto the Trump train, the Haley voters will as well.
As for Haley, I think this is the end of her political career. The Republican base wants nothing to do with her, that much is clear. Perhaps she could run as a congresswoman or governor somewhere but I don't see her ever having a chance to be President again, even if she runs in the wide open 2028 field. People aren't going to forget how badly she was defeated and how baffling it was for her to continue to run even after it was clear America didn't want her.
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