|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Speculation swirled in South Carolina on Tuesday morning when Nikki Haley’s 2024 presidential campaign announced its candidate would be giving a big “State of the Race” speech at noon. The chattering class sprung into motion: Would the former governor bow to the inevitable and drop out of the presidential race?
The chatterers either don’t know politics, or they don’t know Haley. Because within minutes of taking the microphone in Greenville, S.C. it was obvious: “I’m not going anywhere,” Haley said.
The entire event was designed to gin up media coverage for the former Palmetto State governor with scarcely 72 hours to go before Saturday’s ‘First in the South’ presidential primary – a race she is on the cusp of losing decisively.
And it worked … right up until it didn’t.
In perhaps the biggest Nothingburger of an event throughout the entire 2024 cycle (so far), Haley delivered the same “Trump is now bad, but I’ve always been good” speech she has been making for the past twelve months now.
***
She started off by going retro and giving locals one of the greatest hits of her six-year gubernatorial tenure: “It’s another great day in South Carolina!” But what was most striking was how little time she wasted getting down to the business of going after Donald Trump.
“I feel no need to kiss the ring,” Haley said. “And I have no fear of Trump’s retribution. I’m not looking for anything from him.”
Good thing … because after attacks like that, the famously thin-skinned former president won’t be in the mood to bestow any favors. But Haley didn’t stop there.
“Trump and Biden are two old men who are only getting older,” she said. “Nearly 60 percent of Americans say Trump and Biden are both too old to be president — because they are. We’ve all seen them fumble their words and get confused about world leaders. That’s not who you want in the Oval Office when Russia launches a nuclear weapon at our satellites, or China shuts down our electricity grid.”
***
RELATED | HOW NIKKI HALEY’S EARLY-STATE MOMENTUM COLLAPSED
***
There was a lot more in that vein, along with the usual Haley downpour of her favorite personal pronoun. (For those of you who are grammatically challenged, we’re talking about “I.”) Showering herself with self-righteous virtue was a fresh reminder of why she is the trombone section in the Haley Pep Band.
But the most significant takeaway from the event was not what the candidate said, but how the event was promoted. It’s widely suspected those close to Haley’s inner circle dropped breadcrumbs earlier in the day suggesting she might be about to drop out of the race. While that approach did generate widespread media coverage, it also revealed the campaign’s distress. Teasing reporters with the possibility that your team may be about to toss in the towel is a ploy of cynical desperation.
Over in Trump World, no one was fretting after the speech. Said one person associated with the Trump campaign, “The stagehands are getting ready. They’ll drop the curtain on Nikki Haley when the final votes are counted Saturday night.”
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
J. Mark Powell is an award-winning former TV journalist, government communications veteran, and a political consultant. He is also an author and an avid Civil War enthusiast. Got a tip or a story idea for Mark? Email him at mark@fitsnews.com.
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to proactively address? We have an open microphone policy here at FITSNews! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
6 comments
“I’m not going anywhere.”
You are right, Nikki. You are going absolutely nowhere.
It is pretty funny when you think about it, Nikki Haley’s bookkeeping experience (lol) probably does put her leagues above Donald J Bankruptcy when it comes to knowing the value of a dollar.
The best thing that could happen for this country right now is for Nikki to win the Republican nomination. The fact that I do not agree with her on most things is not relevant. Even if I did not agree with her on anything (which is not the case) I would say the same. We need to end Donald Trump’s involvement in the governance of this nation. He and his cult have become a threat to the country we cannot ignore. We know he wants to be President so that he can escape punishment for his crimes, make money, cut his taxes, and punish his enemies. If he has to take this country down or sell us out to Russia or China to do that he will. He really does not even hide his corruption, because he thinks it is OK for politicians to make money on their office. It’s why he ran for President in the first place. The bribes. The ones he has made to politicians his whole life and the ones he thinks he is entitled to now. Along with being able to kill people he does not like.
We need a return to normal. America truly is the richest most successful country in the world, and regardless of MAGA Cult lies, we are still the dominant power on Earth. We could even pay off our debt if we stopped giving tax cuts to billionaires, real estate developers, and giant corporations. Trump is the biggest threat to this country we have faced in the last century.
I personally had enough of the Donald Trump and the Crazy Train of his presidential “reign” to last me forever. If he gets near the Oval Office again, it will be the demise of the US as a first-world country. The man is a walking disaster and corrupt to his core. And he’s about to be broke from all these legal judgements against him. It also seems as if his KKKcult has grown weary of paying his legal bills. This makes him incredibly attractive to spies and dictators who will be happy to give him money at a cost–our national security secrets. Sure, let’s just let Russia “do whatever the hell they want” to our allies and see how that turns out for America. I think Haley’s strategy is to stay in the race until Trump has to drop out due to his pending litigation. Then she’s the presumptive nominee. I just wish she’d stop promising to pardon this walking bag of corruption and stupidity.
She is a had been. Bless her heart!
Nikki has two things in common with Trump.
1) They both had extramarital affairs.
2) They LOVE talking about themselves. The “I”, as you Mark Powell, pointed out.