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Nikki Haley never had a path to victory in the 2024 presidential election. Sure, there was a moment when she almost had a path … but her window closed just as quickly as it opened.
And once it closed, the race was over.
After her early-state momentum evaporated, Haley was eviscerated by Donald Trump in her own backyard – then she got completely curb-stomped by the former president on Super Tuesday. The former South Carolina governor won just one of fifteen states yesterday – Vermont – while the former president put up stunning margins of victory in Alaska (+76 percent), Alabama (+70 percent), Oklahoma (+66 percent), California (+61 percent), Texas (+61 percent), Tennessee (+58 percent), Arkansas (+58 percent) and North Carolina (+51 percent).
More importantly, Trump hauled in 772 additional GOP delegates compared to Haley’s 46 – giving him 1,057 delegates in total (just shy of the 1,215 delegates necessary to capture his party’s nomination).
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Haley’s message throughout the primary was that voters didn’t want a rematch between Trump and U.S. president Joe Biden. Maybe not … but they definitely don’t want her, either.
“I don’t play for second,” Haley said last spring during a town hall in Iowa. “I never have; I’m not going to start.”
That’s how it started. How’d it wind up?
Well, prior to her stinging ‘First in the South’ home state rebuke – and her Super Tuesday decapitation – Haley actually got beat by “none of the above” in Nevada last month. In other words she finished in second place … against no one.
Why did Haley lose so badly? Why couldn’t she gain traction going up against a former president who left the White House with 57.9 percent of America disapproving of him (and only 38.6 percent approving)? And a current president who is putting up almost identical numbers?
That’s a worthwhile question to ask …
(Click to View)
There’s been a lot of discussion lately about Trump unifying the GOP (which he hasn’t) – or the far left purposefully weaponizing the levers of justice against him last spring hoping to rally GOP rank-and-file toward him (which they did). But lost in those machinations is a conversation about why Haley failed – aside from the fact 92 percent of her Virginia voters apparently approve of Biden as president, according to exit polls, and 87 percent are happy with the way things are going in the United States right now.
Haley’s core problem? No one trusted her.
Why not?
Because she’s untrustworthy.
And I’m not just referring to her shady family financial activity, for-profit-warmongering or opportunistic flip-flopping, either. Hell, Haley’s very entry into the race was a lie.
“I would not run if President Trump ran,” she told reporter Meg Kinnard of The Associated Press in April of 2021.
Asked point blank by Kinnard whether she would support another Trump presidential bid, Haley responded “yes.”
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Trump is still waiting on Haley to make good on that pledge … as is the Republican Party, which allowed her to participate in its primary process and appear onstage at five of its sanctioned debates based on a promise she would endorse the party’s eventual nominee.
Will she?
“No. I think I’ll make what decision I want to make,” Haley said during a Sunday appearance on NBC’s Meet The Press.
Haley’s inability to honor her word is the reason so many of Trump’s closest allies moved so decisively two months ago to shut down any conversation of her as a possible vice presidential nominee – something Trump was clearly considering as Haley was at the zenith of her national influence.
“No one trusts Haley … or for that matter some of the very dangerous people who are propping her up (and making her rich),” I wrote back in January. “Let me be clear: I’m not saying they don’t trust that Haley wouldn’t stab Trump in the back politically, I’m saying they don’t trust that she (and her backers) wouldn’t actually stab him. Like, literally.”
In far too many elections (almost every election, sadly), voting for a politician comes down to proverbial poison picking. The lesser of two evils. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Many Americans feel that way about the choice between Trump and Biden.
Yet while affinity, esteem and trust in the two presumptive major party nominees is at an all-time low, both of these vilified politicians can say one thing without fear of contraction: Voters trust them more than they do Nikki Haley …
Which tells you all you need to know about why her candidacy failed so spectacularly …
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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 and before that he was a bass guitarist and dive bar bouncer. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven (soon to be eight) children.
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14 comments
The Sad thing is, Haley is still gonna be laughing her ass off, all the way to the bank. She got tons of monetary donations from the Democrats, pandering to the joos, and other ventures. She will likely put that money into some shady “non-profit” and appoint herself, Michael, and possibly the kids, as officers of the NPO, making obscene salaries for their “work”. She will likely have a second mansion elsewhere, before long.
Remember when her parent’s filed bankruptcy and had their possessions auctioned off?
Jews existing really has you mad huh?
Sorry Nikki, I’m sure you’d be an average run of the mill awful establishment Republican president of yesteryear, rubber stamping whatever the goons tell you to, but the inmates run the asylum now.
You still have time to write your “I told you so” speech for November though.
Bless her heart. If she wants to vote for herself as a write-in, she’ll have to move out of state since write-ins are not allowed for president.
You are correct. It must have been this voter entering his name as a write in President and casting the vote…more than once…that set the legislators off. See McCain, Romney tickets
No. Just their insatiable worship of money and desire to control everything they can get their greedy little hands on. Oh, and their constant pity parties.
Man, Nazis sure feel comfortable on this blog for some really, really strange reason I totally can’t put my finger on.
It’s because to liberals, anyone who doesn’t tow the Democratic line is a Nazi to them.
She and Major Mike will do well and have to live with their consciences.
“Nikki Haley’s Sudden Wealth Rooted in Weapons Industry, Pro-War Advocacy Network
The former U.N. ambassador went from virtually no savings in 2017 to a small fortune in part from defense contracting and war advocacy ties.” -LEE FANG AUG 24, 2023
Other than that she is thin as a rail and her face is cracking. She is not eating out on the trail. She must have lost 50 plus pounds by not eating. Evidently using the bus privy is not only undesirable she starved herself to avoid it. #DontYouThinkOrDontYou
What Haley’s campaign revealed is that Trump has real problems with the college educated, upper middle class, and suburbanites. They aren’t voting for him. Only time will tell if they’ll hold their nose and vote for Trump anyway in the general election, but even if a minor percentage pulls their support in November, the end result will be the same–he will lose again (and yes, he lost in 2020 too and didn’t win the majority in 2016).
The wonderful thing about the Big Lie is that it can be repeated every time Republicans lose.
They never have to imagine actually losing an election ever again because they’ve convinced themselves they are so superior there’s no legitimate way for them to lose. They’re playing by Calvinball rules now.
You should really read up on how the Electoral College works.
Never give up! Never surrender! Activate the Omega 13!
– Commander Taggart of NSEA Protector. Galaxy Quest. 1999.