Nikki Haley Says She Won’t Run in 2024 If Trump Runs
[guest post by Dana]
If you were hoping that Nikki Haley would throw her hat in the ring in 2024 (I didn’t), then you can blame Trump if she doesn’t. Maybe…
This was Haley today:
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said Monday that she would not run for the presidency in 2024 if former President Donald Trump mounts another campaign for the White House.
…She is considered a potential contender for the GOP’s presidential nomination in 2024. When asked if she would support Trump if he runs again, Haley responded, “Yes.”
“I would not run if President Trump ran and I would talk to him about it,” Haley told the Associated Press. “That’s something that we will have a conversation about at some point, if that decision is something that has to be made. But yeah, I would, absolutely.”
I asked @NikkiHaley if she would support Donald Trump if he runs again in 2024.
“Yes,” she told me.
“I would not run if President Trump ran, and I would talk to him about it,” she added. “That’s something that we will have a conversation about, at some point.”
Story upcoming pic.twitter.com/8uGwxk2s84
— Meg Kinnard (@MegKinnardAP) April 12, 2021
While Haley said that impeaching Trump after the insurrection of Jan. 6 was “a waste of time,” she also told a different story about her reaction to Trump and the insurrection in an interview back in February 2021:
“I think he’s going to find himself further and further isolated,” Haley said. “I think his business is suffering at this point. I think he’s lost any sort of political viability he was going to have. I think he’s lost his social media, which meant the world to him. I mean, I think he’s lost the things that really could have kept him moving.”
I reminded her that Trump has been left for dead before; that the base always rallied behind him. I also reminded her that the argument for impeachment—and conviction—is that he would be barred from holding federal office again.
“He’s not going to run for federal office again,” Haley said.
But what if he does? Or at least, what if he spends the next four years threatening to? Can the Republican Party heal with Trump in the picture?
“I don’t think he’s going to be in the picture,” she said, matter-of-factly. “I don’t think he can. He’s fallen so far.”
This was the most certainty I’d heard from any Republican in the aftermath of January 6. And Haley wasn’t done.
“We need to acknowledge he let us down,” she said. “He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again.”
Wll the real Nikki Haley please stand up. Do you really think he will be a different man in 2024 and not lead you astray down the same path? Are you kidding! Because what you said in February sure isn’t consistent with what you are saying today. With flip-flopping like this, I don’t see why you should be trusted with the presidency. Clearly, you are most still loyal to Trump and are willing to sacrifice your integrity on his behalf.
–Dana
Good grief.
Dana (fd537d) — 4/12/2021 @ 6:48 pmHeuer…or a word that sounds a lot like it in some places. Then again she may be afraid of John James-like electoral results
urbanleftbehind (3872e3) — 4/12/2021 @ 6:52 pmHaving Cake + Eating It
norcal (01e272) — 4/12/2021 @ 7:06 pmDana, every politician has to flip-flop like this to some extent. You pander to your flank in the primaries, then flip-flop during the general election, when you need to appeal to the middle.
She’s going to need the Trump vote early on, and then pivot away when running against her Democrat opponent.
It’s not going to be easy, but it is something any Republican candidate will have to do to some extent in the primaries.
Hoi Polloi (b28058) — 4/12/2021 @ 7:38 pmPersonally, I feel that I owe it to JVW to vote for the Aloha Sweetie. Objectively, I don’t think Haley would fare any better than Jeb Bush (no, I don’t mean Carly Fiorina) did in 2016. She may be top shelf, but she’s still niche boutique.
nk (1d9030) — 4/12/2021 @ 7:44 pmNormally, I would agree, Hoi Polloi, but not this time. Trump and the insurrection of Jan. 6 changed everything. And changed everything for Republican politicians. You cannot sit on the fence about it, you cannot flip-flop over it, you cannot play politics about it and expect to be taken seriously. There is a choice that every Republican needs to make now. Not after it’s “safe” to. I can’t respect a pol who is trying to simultaneously take him to the woodshed over the debacle and then a month later say they won’t run if he runs. All this demonstrates is Haley’s lack of integrity, and it’s a most unbecoming look. P.S. There are Republicans facing midterms who made their stand and spoke out against Trump and for impeachment. They’re willing to whatever may come because their integrity was more important than politics.
Dana (fd537d) — 4/12/2021 @ 7:44 pmWhy is Haley even addressing this now? Just let bad diet, lack of exercise, and four-hour sleep run their course with the grand gaslighter.
norcal (01e272) — 4/12/2021 @ 7:56 pmI agree with Dana 100%.
As usual.
You don’t have read more than a couple paragraphs into the Politico interview to find “the real Nikki Haley”:
Utterly spineless.
Dave (1bb933) — 4/12/2021 @ 8:09 pmthe republican voter clearly hasn’t been scolded enough
JF (6fcdbe) — 4/12/2021 @ 8:11 pmI keep hoping the GOP will just have this titanic cascade of leaders admitting Trump is just the worst. I am not hoping for the GOP’s sake, but so I can see Ted Cruz try this 1080 degree flip flop.
Nikki is pathetic. Dana’s right that the central issue. I don’t see how anyone can try to lead this nation if they can’t even lead on that.
Dustin (4237e0) — 4/12/2021 @ 8:13 pmAh, the voice of a woman who is betting on Trump not running in 2024.
If she has to sit out 2024, she’ll have been out of politics for 10 years. That’s a long, long time in the political business. Of course she could see if Trump would take her on as VP or she could come for Lindsey Graham or Tim Scott and spend 4 yrs as a Senator. But if she just sits out? A whole new group of up and comers will be banging on the door.
Personally I think she may have lost her shot at the big desk already, but maybe she has a play.
Nic (896fdf) — 4/12/2021 @ 8:19 pmNikki vs Kamala might be a fun campaign.
Fred (d109df) — 4/12/2021 @ 8:59 pmIt’s a dilemma, not just for Nikki but for Republicans at large. Trash Trump, and he’ll sic his cult on you, enough that you will lose in the primary. Support Trump, and you’ll have have enough stench on you to lose the general election.
And this is all assuming Trump won’t run again.
The only solution I see is to change hearts and minds at the grassroots level, which is akin to mules pulling stumps on millions of acres.
norcal (01e272) — 4/12/2021 @ 9:09 pmI agree, norcal.
This is from Michael Wood who is running in the Texas-06 special election:
This is how you do it. This is what Nikki Haley can’t bring herself to do.
Dana (fd537d) — 4/12/2021 @ 9:32 pmI hope Michael Wood succeeds with this bravery. If so, he’ll be a bellwether.
norcal (01e272) — 4/12/2021 @ 10:00 pm@7. It’s her way of telling fellow travelers waiting in the terminal for Flight 2024 that if or when The Jumbo clears the taxiway, she’s number one on the runway, ready for her takeoff roll.
“Coffee, Tea or Me?” CBS TV, 1973
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 4/13/2021 @ 1:01 am@13/@14:
“I’d rather be right than president” wasn’t a winning strategy for Henry Clay- or Barry Goldwater-especially w/t Trump base. She knows what she is doing.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 4/13/2021 @ 1:19 amWell there are those Republican politicians who see Trump’s commanding position in the party as a problem to be fixed and others as an annoyance to be tolerated if necessary and ignored when possible. Haley looks like the latter.
And of course there’s a few who really, really love Trump. But I think they will be eventually weeded out through criminal indictments.
Victor (4959fb) — 4/13/2021 @ 3:36 amFred,
Sikhs are brawlers, not dancers, but it would be interesting.
urbanleftbehind (fd4b58) — 4/13/2021 @ 3:59 amI wonder if this triangulation will help her. The populist wing doesn’t want nuance and the never-trump wing doesn’t want deference to Trump. Maybe this will help her with traditional GOP types like Romney or ….okay that’s the only example I can think of.
Time123 (f5cf77) — 4/13/2021 @ 5:23 amTrump, the rioters in Minnesota, all samee-samee. Unemployed losers with nothing else to do except cause trouble and look for a chance to snatch a little loot.
nk (1d9030) — 4/13/2021 @ 5:42 amI want to be inspired by a President….see a strategic vision….and the leadership skills to make progress getting there. Trump was the antithesis of all of that. Though, I’m not hearing much from ANY Republican about what they want to accomplish and how to get anything done in such a polarized and dysfunctional political environment. I can understand Paul Ryan’s position of “heck with this”.
What’s Haley’s signature issue? What does she care deeply about? What is the argument for Republican rule, other than just hating the liberals…and being desperate about the border. Will she or won’t she? Right now I guess I just don’t care…because it’s all personality nonsense. If she has some ideas that she wants to challenge people with, I’m all ears….but passing ruminations about Trump…just come across as tedious. Wake me when she has something to say about getting our fiscal house in order…..
AJ_Liberty (a4ff25) — 4/13/2021 @ 6:08 amThe answer is “Nikki Haley”.
Time123 (7cca75) — 4/13/2021 @ 6:12 amWhat’s Haley’s signature issue?
She’s not an old white man.
nk (1d9030) — 4/13/2021 @ 7:07 amall this hand wringing cuz nikki failed your purity test
JF (6fcdbe) — 4/13/2021 @ 7:20 am@25, People looking for integrity from elected officials really can be a head scratcher huh?
Time123 (f5cf77) — 4/13/2021 @ 7:32 am15. norcal (01e272) — 4/12/2021 @ 10:00 pm
It depends on whether or not there’ll be several candidates splitting up the pro-Trump vote in the Republican primary, and on whether he can get non affiliated people to vote in the Republican primary and/or runoff (anyone who didn’t vote in the Democratic primary can vote in the Republican runoff) and then on whether the top pro-Trump candidate is particularly weak or unsavory.
LBJ won a primary election for Congress in 1937 by being very pro-FDR (pro court packing) in an election where all the other candidates (and the electorate) were not. He got less than 28% of the vote ad apparently there was no runoff because it was a special election.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_history_of_Lyndon_B._Johnson
https://www.austincc.edu/lpatrick/his2341/election.html
Sammy Finkelman (6975b4) — 4/13/2021 @ 7:35 amI like Nikki and I have family/friends in South Carolina who simply adored her for her time as governor.
She’s a politician, so she’s going to do what she deems necessary in order to secure the nomination. For those advocating that voters ostracize GOP politicians who won’t stop engaging with the “Trump wing” of the party is simply missing the forest for trees. Politics isn’t really about principles. It’s about the pragmaticism involved in order to get “your” political people in offices of power. It isn’t an argument to abandon principles, just merely an observation of human behaviors with respect to those seeking office and those supporting them.
Folks, I know that many of us despises the politics of identity politics (I’m in this camp). But the simple recognition is that it works for a not insignificant population, such that countering Kamala Harris with Nikki is a sound strategy. She’s unambiguously a skilled politician with many conservative principles.
My preference is still DeSantis if he wanted to run, if only to see Democrats and the media, but I repeat myself, absolutely lose their collective minds.
whembly (446c04) — 4/13/2021 @ 7:40 amTime123 (f5cf77) — 4/13/2021 @ 5:23 am
It helps her be an acceptable compromise choice. The Trumpists will accept her because she wasn’t against Trump, and the NeverTrumpers will accept her because she never really was for Trump, and they don’t want the Democrat.
Sammy Finkelman (6975b4) — 4/13/2021 @ 7:41 am“nikki failed your purity test”
Ultimately Trump gave us Biden and a Democrat Senate….two impeachments….and a collection of obstruction charges that could have led to more. January 6th….is Trump. It defines him. Why are we supposed to pretend that we want more of that….more veiled white supremacy nonsense….more cynical political manipulation….more senseless bullying….more divisive noise? Haley needs to adopt the position…if she is interested in leading….of at best not giving deference to Trump. I would say, he had his time and now its time for something new…here are my ideas and what I can bring to the table…here is my leadership style. There’s just a great case for four more years of Trump….or one of his sons. Let’s stop reality TV invading the White House. How about professionalism? How about the slogan “Boring Competence”…..
AJ_Liberty (a4ff25) — 4/13/2021 @ 7:52 am@26 says the biden supporter lol
JF (6fcdbe) — 4/13/2021 @ 7:53 amYikes, sorry, missed an important NOT in there
AJ_Liberty (a4ff25) — 4/13/2021 @ 7:53 amI think she also said something that means that she’d try to talk him out of running, perhaps by giving him a deadline:
Sammy Finkelman (6975b4) — 4/13/2021 @ 7:54 amI see it your way, too, Sammy. Although I would have phrased it: “Ain’t no Republican got a snowball’s chance in 2024 unless we rid ourselves of the Trump stench.” But I’m not a Southern lady diplomat.
nk (1d9030) — 4/13/2021 @ 8:05 amYou’re right, Dana. Here’s a profile of Michael Wood, with details on the special election he’s running in.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/13/michael-wood-texas-gop-481024
Wood has a rough row to hoe. It’s a crowded field to fill the seat left vacant by Rep. Wright, who died of Covid. His widow is the frontrunner in the race.
The district comprises the suburbs and exburbs of Fort Worth and Dallas. Once solidly red, it has become more purple of late. As Politico notes, Trump won it by 12 points in 2016, but only by 3 points in 2020. (Romney won it by 17 points in 2012.)
That suggests a weakening of support for Trump among Republicans. That’s what Wood is counting on. He’s found allies in Kinzinger and Cheney, both of whom donated to his campaign, however the former endorsed him while the latter endorsed Wright.
Special elections like these usually have a low turnout. Only the party faithful vote, and if none of the twelve candidates win a majority of 50+%, there will be a runoff.
I won’t say that Wood is a high-risk candidate, but he is a long-shot candidate. I’d vote for him if I could, but I don’t live in his district, which is several hundred miles north of here. He, Kinzinger and Cheney, among a few others, represent the pre-Trump party and seek to return the GOP to its original principles, which in the days of Buckley and Reagan were conservative/libertarian.
I believe a large part of the GOP wants to return to those days. So Wood may have a chance in his district, but it’s against long odds.
That said, I will not vote for any Trump suck-up, like Cruz. As for Haley, she lost my vote when she said she would vote for Trump.
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 4/13/2021 @ 8:33 amAJ_Liberty (a4ff25) — 4/13/2021 @ 7:52 am
False claims of election fraud, and attempting to push people who count and certify elections into not doing it honestly defines him.
I think January 6 took him by surprise. I think it was a tightly held conspiracy by some leaders of far right fringe groups to attempt to get Donald Trump to declare martial law, even though he’d rejected that already, possibly on pragmatic grounds: There was not a shred of legality to that idea, and it wouldn’t work.
I suspect that the idea originated with Russian intelligence (I mean who could have given Mike Flynn the idea, and why would he need it after being pardoned?) but Donald Trump understood the United States, and the United States military, better than did Vladimir Putin, who may have originated the idea, and anyway, Putin wouldn’t have been gambling with his life and fortune.
By the way, the peaceful January 6 rally at the Capitol did take place but was perhaps dominated by anti-vaxxers:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/26/us/far-right-extremism-anti-vaccine.html
That wasn’t a separate rally, that was the scheduled “Stop the Steal” rally with a permit I think. nobody has gone into how and when Trump’s appearance at that rally was cancelled 0 people don;t even realize he (and Alex Jones, on video) said he would be there.
http://web.archive.org/web/20210106005050/https://wildprotest.com
Now an important point: Anti vaccination was not a Trump cause, although he floated that a bit before the 2016 election, because Trump never throws away any support.
But anti vaccination is Russian propaganda (at least for mainstream vaccines)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/anti-vax-movement-russian-trolls-fueled-anti-vaccination-debate-in-us-by-spreading-misinformation-twitter-study
Sammy Finkelman (6975b4) — 4/13/2021 @ 8:34 amSammy, few claim that Trump is guilty of concocting the siege of the Capitol. But he is responsible for advancing a conspiracy that was not really based on an honest evaluation of facts….and that this influenced gullible supporters to over react and break the law. Trump then failed to de-escalate the chaos or in any meaningful way protect the Constitutional process or the Congress. He was just lucky that more violence didn’t occur or that more people didn’t die. If the President is the chief law enforcement officer and swore an oath the protect and defend the Constitution and its authorized processes, he failed mightily in those roles. So conspiracies, reckless rhetoric, incompetence, hubris….were all on show January 6th. The GOP has to stop pretending that it needs Trump’s leadership. He should be an irresponsible blip….
AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 4/13/2021 @ 9:02 amDana, every politician has to flip-flop like this to some extent. You pander to your flank in the primaries, then flip-flop during the general election, when you need to appeal to the middle.
……..
Hoi Polloi (b28058) — 4/12/2021 @ 7:38 pm
Three years before the first primaries? This won’t be Darling Nikki’s last statement on the issue. She will end up with more positions than the Kama Sutra.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/13/2021 @ 9:35 amI like how this site and others like it spend as much time criticizing R’s as D’s. Such objectivity and honesty is refreshing. Wish the D’s would do the same thing; though there must be sites where this happens (maybe?). Is there a D site somewhere where someone is lamenting Raphael Warnock’s dishonesty and pandering? There needs to be.
JRH (52aed3) — 4/13/2021 @ 10:15 amWell, if I were a younger potential GOP candidate, I probably wouldn’t walk into that buzz-saw either. The flip side is that she WILL be a candidate if Trump is not, and positions herself for being his successor.
Again, if you are a professional politician seeking high office, you have exactly two organizations to work within. Even with Trump, the GOP sucks less. (“We suck less” should maybe be their new slogan.”) And Haley gets nowhere in the current Democrat Party anyway. So, either she folds up her tent like Paul Ryan or she accepts that “the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy.”
“Principles make a good rudder, but a very poor sail.”
-C J Cherryh
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/13/2021 @ 12:19 pmThe unfortunate reality of the GOP is that the next nomination is Trump’s if he wants it, lives that long and isn’t in prison. Maybe even if he’s in prison. It’s that bad.
The bast way to ensure that Trump runs again is to challenge him. He’s that way. He might not want to play with a toy, but if you want to play with it, it’s something he NEEDS.
Better is to let him see you as his successor, so that when it comes time he’s OK with someone else carrying “his” message. And besides, it does you no good to be labeled as anti-Trump when he has his stroke and dies next year.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/13/2021 @ 12:26 pmMore like “We suck less if you don’t mind incompetence, fraud, and election theft.”
Gotta keep the brand front and center.
Dave (1bb933) — 4/13/2021 @ 12:56 pmA third party candidate has a shot, provided he is both credible and can self finance, which means is a billionaire or almost one.
Since this cuts off at $3.2 billion you can include more people than those listed here:
https://www.forbes.com/forbes-400
It doesn’t have to be Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk.
And the billionaire could be the vice presidential candidate, like David Koch was for the Libertarians in 1980, and legally pay for much of the campaign.
Sammy Finkelman (6975b4) — 4/13/2021 @ 12:58 pmThe economics of imbcile Ted Cruz:
He gets a signed copy of Boehner’s book dropped of to his Senate office which deservedly roasts the idiot Senator from Texas; then, rather than put it up on eBay and donate the $ from the sale to shooting or power failure victims he abandoned in his state, Cancun’s Frito Bandito tosses the book in the fireplace and potsthe pix on Twitter. If he had any brains at all, he’d have waited to toss it into the fire at home the next time the heat and power goes out in Houston.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 4/13/2021 @ 3:44 pmNice skewer, DCSCA!
norcal (01e272) — 4/13/2021 @ 5:38 pmBoehner has always had a hard-on for Cruz. Remember “He’s the devil”, back in 2106? Made it into SNL skits?
nk (1d9030) — 4/13/2021 @ 6:05 pmNice poem, nk. Never saw the skit.
norcal (01e272) — 4/13/2021 @ 9:57 pmSmoke Gets In Your Eyes, by The Platters
nk (1d9030) — 4/13/2021 @ 10:18 pmThat song is part of the soundtrack in a British film called “45 Years”, starring Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay. I highly recommend it.
norcal (01e272) — 4/14/2021 @ 12:05 am