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As it turns out, Super Tuesday didn’t end up being all that super for Nikki Haley.
Yes, Haley ended up winning Vermont in a close election, but that was all. The biggest surprise of the evening ended up being some random guy winning American Samoa and beating Joe Biden. Jason Palmer, we salute you for your efforts in making us all laugh.
But the math has finally become impossible for Team Haley to ignore. After Super Tuesday, Donald Trump now has 995 delegates to Haley’s 89 delegates. It takes 1,215 delegates to clinch the Republican party’s nomination. There is no mathematical way that Nikki Haley can win enough delegates to get the nomination before Donald Trump does. Like it or not, wish it was different or not, Donald Trump is now the Republican party’s presumptive nominee. All Haley had to do was concede the point and leave the stage gracefully – something she probably should have done last week.
And this morning, Haley threw in the proverbial towel and suspended her campaign. Her exit speech was short and succinct.
But Haley was only conceding, not endorsing.
Haley didn’t endorse the former president in a speech in Charleston, South Carolina. Instead, she encouraged him to earn the support of the coalition of moderate Republicans and independent voters who supported her.
“It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him. And I hope he does that,” she said. “At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people.”
While Nikki Haley is correct, in that Donald Trump needs to be appealing to the undecided middle, there really isn’t a lot of the undecided middle to claim. Haley supporters had pretty much evolved into the “Never Trump” crowd, and that group is not going to support Trump, no matter what. And as far as independents go, all Donald Trump really needs to do now is simply keep pointing at Joe Biden. Tomorrow’s State of the Union address is going to provide ample opportunity to do that, and to see what the future of the Republican party really looks like.
What should Donald Trump do now? The smart move would be to say that Nikki Haley fought well, but the primary race is now over, and his entire focus will be on “firing” Joe Biden. Can Donald Trump focus enough on the big picture to do that? Well…
Biden campaign issued a statement congratulating Haley and inviting her supporters to consider him.
Trump campaign just released this a minute ago. pic.twitter.com/LEiXNymd05
— Alexander Panetta (@Alex_Panetta) March 6, 2024
Granted, this was before Haley’s speech, but I don’t know if Trump will deviate from that thought pattern when it comes to Nikki Haley. There’s also no chance that she becomes his vice president. Out of all the Republican primary candidates, Tim Scott would seem to have the best chance of being tapped for vice president. And with Haley now officially done, the vice presidential pick now becomes the burning question for Team Trump. And the rest of us are preparing for the rematch that by polling data, no one really wanted.
Nikki Haley is OFFICIALLY done. We now have our rematch set, as of now. Trump v. Biden II. November 5th, 2024.
*Card Subject To Change* https://t.co/74Qn2NmMtv
— Nick Kayal (@NickKayal) March 6, 2024
Fortunately for Donald Trump, even if he does say something ill-advised regarding Nikki Haley, the spotlight is going to be shifting very quickly over the next day and a half to Biden’s State of the Union address – potentially his final one. His decline has become so hugely obvious that it will be a challenge to not just get Biden through the speech, but get the rest of us through watching the speech. This is live – there are no do-overs or jump cuts. The State of the Union is going to highlight the one thing that Biden’s supporters are desperate to gloss over – his age. How many boosters can they give the old man before he walks into the House chamber to give a primetime, past-his-bedtime speech? I guess we will find out tomorrow.
As for Nikki Haley, her political career may be over at this point. She may have alienated the base enough to not have much goodwill left. But politics is a funny business, and no one is ever really “out” until they are dead. And sometimes even that is optional.
Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click
Joe Rywelski says: So lose-lose situation [for little nicky].
Joe R. says: You know what was funny about Nicky Haley’s presidential run?
Nothing. Not a damn thing.
Chad King says: Nikki may not be smart enough to be president. When pressed to commit to support the party’s nominee as the price for participating in debates, she agreed to do so (and now, to be kind, is waffling on that commitment–what else would she waffle on were she the nominee?). She should have promised to support any nominee who participated in the primary debates. That would have been a principled stand. But promising one thing and doing another marks her as just another lying politician.
I’m disappointed that Trump refused to debate–he needs to make his case for a second term and a debate is the best way to do that. By not debating in the primaries, he gives Biden a “get out of jail” card for debates in the general election. Does anyone think that doddering old fool will agree to a debate?
I really don’t think that – between the candidates and the moderators – that Trump would have been able to express that case very much.
He’s been doing it at rallies (even with the schedule disruptions from the lawfare). Interviews, too. Of course, you have to find it on outlets other than the MSM (which includes Fox, these days).
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