I’ve been skeptical of Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign from the very beginning. When she jumped into the race, she was polling behind Ron DeSantis in her home state—hardly a sign that she’s actually a viable candidate for the nomination.
But perhaps even more telling is the fact that Haley reportedly called Trump ahead of her planned campaign announcement, apparently to get his blessing to run.
“I talked to her for a little while, I said, ‘Look, you know, go by your heart if you want to run,’” Trump revealed back in February.
He also said at the time that he was very supportive of her running. Haley denies that she ever asked for his blessing, but what other reason was there for her to call him in advance?
But what really gave the game away was that Trump says he encouraged her to run, telling her she “should do it.”
Trump’s support of Haley’s candidacy stands in stark contrast to the way he spent months trying to dissuade Ron DeSantis from running for president with a steady salvo of attacks. Haley's decision to run in 2024 contradicted her past stance that she wouldn't seek the GOP nomination if Trump was running. "I would not run if President Trump ran, and I would talk to him about it," Haley said in April 2021.
I asked @NikkiHaley if she would support Donald Trump if he runs again in 2024.
— Meg Kinnard (@MegKinnardAP) April 12, 2021
“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.”
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Why would Haley go back on that vow? Why would she speak to Trump before jumping in the race? The only logical explanation is that while she is a declared candidate for the presidency, she's actually auditioning to be Trump's running mate.
Naturally, Haley denies she's running for vice president. "I've never played for second," Haley said last week.
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But can we really believe that? Her actions since launching her campaign have only made her true intentions more clear. Trump is the runaway frontrunner, but she's not giving Republican voters any reason why they should support her over Trump. She's barely criticized him at all during this campaign, and when she does, it's mostly retaliatory. Haley seems more interested in running for second place in the early primary states and accomplishing the same goal that Trump has: knocking DeSantis out of the race. I've reported in the past that much of Trump's support comes from swayable voters, so Haley should be focusing more attention on trying to peel off support from Trump—because that's where the greatest share of GOP primary voters are.
It seems likely that if Nikki Haley could beat DeSantis in Iowa and New Hampshire, Trump could reward her with the vice presidency. It's not like she hasn't implied wanting the position before. Haley was reportedly a contender to be Trump's running mate in 2016, according to campaign insiders, but Trump later insisted she was never under consideration. There were even rumors that Trump might ditch Pence in 2020 and pick her as his running mate. It never happened, of course, but the rumors were so loud that even Trump had to respond to them.
Still, at the end of the day, it's hard to deny what kind of campaign Haley is currently running. By mostly laying off Trump, she avoids offending him to the point where Trump could deny her the prize of being his running mate.
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