Nikki Haley has been campaigning hard, making the rounds on TV and increasing her rhetoric against Donald Trump.
Even though she is fighting in the state she knows best, her home state of South Carolina, the media is acting all over the place as if the campaign is over.
The main reason for this is that the former South Carolina governor leads Mr. Trump by a margin of 22 to 36 points, according to the past few polls.
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Not only is Haley far behind Trump, but she hasn’t closed the gap enough to make it a contest on Saturday.
And if she loses by more than 20 points, pundits will see it as the final nail in her political coffin.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, former U.N. ambassador, spoke on FOX News’ “Democracy 2024: South Carolina Town Hall” on February 18 in Columbia, South Carolina, ahead of the February 24 Republican primary. I gave a lecture. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
I can’t think of a single other state where Haley could win outright. He has said he intends to remain in office until at least Super Tuesday, but the former president may have mathematically confirmed his nomination by then or shortly thereafter.
This is not an indictment of Haley (though contemporaries say she burned some bridges in South Carolina). The former U.N. ambassador was the last woman to survive after Pence, DeSantis, Scott and Christie all dropped out. But see how she’s campaigning and why Trump seems unstoppable despite four indictments and a $355 million civil fraud fine. is beneficial.
In an interview Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Haley sought to link Trump to Vladimir Putin’s brutal tactics following the killing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in an Arctic prison. There is a growing tendency to
“It was bone-chilling to hear Donald Trump say in South Carolina a week ago that he would encourage President Putin to invade if his allies would not take care of themselves, because in that moment, he All he did was give power to President Putin. All he did in that moment was take sides with a man who murders a political opponent, takes sides with thugs who arrest American journalists and take them hostage. I stood for a man who wanted to make a point to the Russian people, and if you don’t challenge me in the next election, the same thing will happen to you.”
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Additionally, Haley told Jonathan Karl: “The fact that he won’t acknowledge anything about Navalny, not just after saying things like encouraging Putin to invade NATO, is really surprising.” You either side with Putin or you side with Navalny.” Either they think it’s great that Putin killed one of his political opponents, or they just don’t think it’s that big of a deal.”
Trump has said he would not protect NATO members who don’t spend 2% of their money on defense, and would encourage Putin and Russia to “do whatever they want.” President Biden did not mention Navalny’s death, which he immediately blamed on President Putin.
Haley reminded viewers that if Ukraine collapses, Poland or the Baltic states could be next.
Aerial footage shows an explosion at a coke factory in Ukraine. (Reuters)
Now, think about this. If a candidate not named Trump makes comments that could be interpreted as potentially unraveling the Atlantic Alliance, drawing condemnation from European leaders and prompting the Russian dictator to repeat a previous poisoning attempt, If he had remained silent when he later killed an opposition leader, would there have been no political conflict? A fuss?
However, since Trump had a friendly relationship with President Putin as president, there has been little criticism from Republicans. If Mr. Trump believes that, most of his party will agree.
It reminds me of his old line from 2016 about shooting someone on Fifth Avenue. When the Senate appeared on the verge of passing a bipartisan border bill that included aid for Ukraine and Israel, President Trump killed the bill by declaring his opposition.
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And on Sunday night during a FOX town hall, Haley, who often says her former boss was a good president back then, offered a more negative assessment.
“He made some mistakes,” Haley told John Roberts. “At his press conference in Helsinki, when he was going and trying to get along with President Putin, I called him out for that. I explained it in depth in my book…how he Was I completely wrong? Because he was in the same room every time.” “He got weak in the knees. You can’t have a president with weak knees in Putin.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson informed him of Alexei Navalny’s death during a meeting with workers at the AO Konar factory in Chelyabinsk, Russia, on February 16. (Contributor/Getty Images)
Yesterday, about 20 minutes after Haley used the “weak knees” line on “Fox & Friends” and said President Trump “hasn’t said anything about Navalny’s death yet,” the former president He answered on Truth Social:
“With the sudden death of Alexei Navalny, I have become increasingly aware of what is happening in this country. Prosecutors, judges, and others are leading us down the path to destruction.” You may have noticed that I didn’t mention the main point and President Putin at all.
In short, all of this is why the media is far more interested in the chatter around Trump than in Haley’s relentless campaigning.
What most media outlets and other critics fail to understand is that Trump represents the majority of his party. He remade the Republican Party in his image. Most leaders, with the exception of pro-Ukrainian Mitch McConnell, follow the leader, but rank-and-file members also fear the Donald-backed primary challenger.
Chairman Mike Johnson acknowledged that he consulted with President Trump before declaring the border compromise DOA. Marco Rubio, who helped pass legislation two months ago that would have barred the president from leaving NATO, said he had no problem with Trump’s comments about the alliance.
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There’s even a line Haley can’t cross. Haley was repeatedly asked on ABC whether she planned to support Trump even if he won, as she said at the beginning of her campaign, and she continued to deflect the question.
Ten years ago, Ms. Haley’s pro-military and anti-Russian views would have been a good fit for the Republican Party, but that party no longer exists.
