From the beginning of her candidacy, I’ve always seen Nikki Haley’s entry into the 2024 GOP primary as an audition to be Trump’s running mate. Watching her in the debate this week, I was impressed by her performance and was certainly convinced that she’d make a great running mate for Trump.
Others have noticed her as well, and her stock is rising in the GOP primary, apparently a bit too much and too fast for Donald Trump. On the night of the second debate, minutes before it ended, the Trump campaign sent out an email attacking her. It was the first time the campaign ever sent out such an email. That’s no coincidence.
Trump followed that up by blasting her on his Truth Social platform on Friday.
“MAGA, or I, will never go for Birdbrain Nikki Haley,” he posted. “No loyalty, plenty of lies! ‘I will never run against our great President,’ she said, ‘he has done an outstanding job.’ To which I responded, ‘How nice of you to say, Nikki,’ knowing full well that her words mean nothing. She even came to Mar-a-Lago with her family, ‘bearing gifts.’ Anyway, Birdbrain doesn’t have the TALENT or TEMPERAMENT to do the job. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
This is a stunning change of attitude from Trump, who spent weeks blasting Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), discouraging him from running in 2024, but generally pulled punches with other candidates, including Nikki Haley. In fact, despite blasting her for running against him this year, he gave her his blessing to run back in January, according to a report from CNN.
Read Related Also: ‘Brave’ girl, 11, survives house fire by jumping out window after ‘schizophrenic’ dad set blaze that killed mom, siblings
Related: Nikki Haley Rising in Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire
“I talked to her for a little while, I said, ‘Look, you know, go by your heart if you want to run,’” Trump said. “She’s publicly said that ‘I would never run against my president, he was a great president,’” Trump added, which is as close he got to chastising her. He never called her disloyal; in fact, he said he told Haley that she “should do it” and that he would welcome the competition.
The only possible explanation for Trump’s 180 about Nikki Haley is that he now sees her as a threat. Think about it. When DeSantis jumped in the race, he was seen as the only candidate with the potential to be competitive with Trump. While DeSantis has slipped in the polls, Haley has seen a boost. Polls have also shown that she beats Biden more easily than Trump, which is bound to improve her stock with swayable Republican voters.
Rather than see Haley as someone who can boost his ticket, Trump has decided to trash her instead. And that’s a shame.
