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Former South Carolina governor and 2024 GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley was on the defensive again this week regarding her perpetual vacillation when it comes to former U.S. president Donald Trump.
This time, though, Trump’s former ambassador to the United Nations coughed up a curious comparison to her on-again, off-again relationship with America’s 45th chief executive.
In an interview with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto on Tuesday, Haley was grilled as to whether she feared incurring “the wrath” of Trump voters – that broad segment of the GOP electorate which is “pretty much in lockstep with him.”
“His voters and supporters and the American people want the truth,” Haley told Cavuto. “I just speak hard truths.”
Apparently, that included an especially hard truth about Haley’s relationship with her husband …
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“You’ve got some people who are mad that I don’t love Trump ninety percent, you know – a hundred percent of the time,” Haley said. “I don’t love my husband 100 percent of the time.”
Wait … what?
Cavuto’s eyes widened as Haley made that cringeworthy comment.
“You’ve got some people who are upset that I don’t disagree with him a hundred percent of the time,” Haley continued, referring to her relationship with Trump. “I call it like I see it. And so, look … I just think we need to move forward. Our country can’t keep dealing with this chaos and this negativity. We’ve gotta go forward.”
Haley’s comments regarding her marriage caught the ear of one the Palmetto State’s most influential opinion shapers – who shared their take with me confidentially.
“We all have moments of spousal dislike,” the source told me. “But dis-love? Nope.”
Personally, I didn’t hear anything in Haley’s comment beyond an apparent (and likely inadvertent) misspeak. Haley was certainly singing her husband’s praises last month when he was deployed to Africa for a year with his S.C. National Guard unit.
“He’s my rock. He always has been,” Haley told CNN’s Kate Sullivan as her husband was deployed. “But I’ve been his as well. We have both lived a life of service. And so when he goes off to deploy, my support is completely with him. If I happen to be running for president, his support is completely with me. Two things can be true at the same time.”
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Michael Haley was deployed with his unit on June 17, 2023 and will remain in Africa through the spring of 2024 – a period of time which would encompass the vast majority of the GOP nominating season.
Democrats kick off their primary process in South Carolina on February 3, 2024 – followed by New Hampshire and Nevada (February 6, 2024), Georgia (February 13, 2024) and Michigan (February 27, 2024). Republicans first face voters in the Iowa Caucus on February 5, 2024. New Hampshire comes eight days later (February 13, 2024) followed by South Carolina and Nevada on February 24, 2024.
Haley told Sullivan she and her husband would “continue to stay in touch as best as we can” during his deployment.
Given my personal history with Haley, I’ve done my level best not to unfairly criticize her since she announced her candidacy for the American presidency. In fact, I praised her earlier in the campaign for staking out some important ideological ground on the issue of entitlement spending – something both Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis have refused to get serious about.
(Click to View)
Others in the media have not been so kind to Haley since her entry into the race … and in fairness, she’s given them reason not to trust her.
Ultimately, though, the numbers are what they are … and so far, they are not good for Haley, whose candidacy has simply failed to resonate with GOP primary voters.
According to the latest composite polling from RealClearPolitics, Haley is backed by just 3.5 percent of the Republican electorate – putting her behind Trump (52.6 percent), DeSantis (21 percent) and former vice president Mike Pence (6.3 percent).
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.
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6 comments
Life of a cuck, poor dude.
Whaddya mean? For about six years he was SC’s First Cuck.
You mean when you came inside of her in the back of your car and then blogged about it relentlessly for years? We ALL remember that! Your wife, kids, parents, siblings and the entire state and nation recalls when you had sex with married Nikki Haley. Did you ever hear from Michael? It is so weird and cowardly that you refer to it but decline to ever refer to it. There has got to be a national news story recapping your infidelity, its just a matter of time. Hi Bill’s kids! We know you read the comments even though dad tells you not to. We all have sympathy for you and hope you are ok.
Remember when he said he was writing a book? ?
Remember when once I posted that I wanted to be a transgender?
Will wasn’t married at the time but Nikki was.