How Nikki Haley burned bridges in South Carolina–and still pulls punches against Trump

Nikki Haley says she’s staying in the presidential race at the very least till Super Tuesday, although a lot of the media now deem the first over and completed with.

While Donald Trump’s media detractors have discovered new strains of assault, they will’t deny that his huge wins in Iowa and New Hampshire have virtually given him a headlock on the nomination.

But the most important roadblock in her path is her own residence state.

AS TRUMP EASILY BEATS HALEY IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, SHE VOWS TO STAY IN THE RACE

How is it {that a} former two-term governor is trailing Trump by 20 to 30 factors?

The Trump juggernaut appears near unstoppable. This Saturday’s Democratic major in South Carolina (daring prediction: Joe Biden will win) will draw any potential party-switchers away from the GOP contest. 

And the Republican Party, reworked by Trump, is way more conservative in her state than when Haley left workplace in 2017.

Even Haley, Trump’s former U.N. ambassador, isn’t predicting victory. She says she merely must do higher than the 43 % she gained in New Hampshire’s open major. That’s a tall order.

Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the United Nations and 2024 Republican presidential candidate, throughout a marketing campaign occasion in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. (Adam Glanzman/Bloomberg through Getty Images)

But there’s a fair deeper actuality hurting Haley, based on some digging in South Carolina by two veteran New York Times reporters. All this got here out throughout her years as governor, however is new to a nationwide viewers.

There’s a purpose, says the piece, that the governor, Henry McMaster, who had been her lieutenant governor, has endorsed Trump. And the House backbencher who she picked for senator, Tim Scott, has endorsed Trump. And the congresswoman whose profession was threatened in 2022 till Haley endorsed her, Nancy Mace, has endorsed Trump.

Haley mentioned final week that South Carolina lawmakers had “no love for me” as a result of she tried to make state authorities extra clear and vetoed pork-barrel tasks.

Longtime GOP guide Chip Feikel informed the paper “she was good on economic development but not great on cultivating relationships. She forgot who helped her get here.”

NEW HAMPSHIRE SHOWDOWN: WHY TRUMP IS CONNECTING WITH VOTERS AND HALEY AND DESANTIS HAVE NOT

Perhaps the basic case concerned former governor Mark Sanford, whose tenure was ruined by the “Appalachian Trail” extramarital affair, who agreed to her request for a $400,000 advert blitz to salvage her marketing campaign. 

“And then she cut me off,” Sanford informed Politico. “This is systematic with Nikki: She cuts off people who have contributed to her success. It’s almost like there’s some weird psychological thing where she needs to pretend it’s self-made.”

Ouch.

There’s one other method to take a look at this: “Haley and her supporters attribute the hard feelings she left in her wake to jealousy, sexism and the sense that a young woman of color had simply not waited her turn.”

Republican presidential hopeful and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks after outcomes got here in for the New Hampshire primaries throughout a watch occasion in Concord, New Hampshire, on January 23, 2024. (JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP through Getty Images)

But clearly, the buildup of complaints displays a sample of burning bridges and alienating allies, even when it additionally depicts her as a fighter.

While Haley has sharpened her rhetoric against the previous president, recurrently calling him “unhinged,” she is still pulling her punches.

On Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” when host Kristen Welker requested whether or not the $83-million verdict in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case was “disqualifying,” Haley answered in course of phrases:

“I absolutely trust the jury. And I think that they made their decision based on the evidence. I just don’t think that should take him off the ballot.” 

Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks at a marketing campaign city corridor in Rye, New Hampshire, January 2, 2024. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

On the third attempt, Welker requested: “Why give him a pass on this issue, where a jury has found him liable for sexual abuse?”

“I’m not giving him a pass on anything,” Haley mentioned earlier than pivoting to Trump’s supposed decline as a 77-year-old. Everyone helps juries. What she didn’t do was tackle the substance of the accusations, which Trump continues to vehemently deny.

Welker moved on: “He has mocked your birth name. He has suggested you’re not eligible to be president because your parents weren’t born here. Of course, you are eligible. You were born here…What do you make of him bringing back this birther playbook against you? Do you think it will work in South Carolina and win over voters there?”

“I mean, honestly, Kristen, I laugh every time I see one of his tweets, every time I see him throw a temper tantrum, because I know Donald Trump very well. When he feels insecure, he starts to rail. He starts to rant.” She utterly ducked the query.

Welker, once more: “Would you go so far as to call those attacks racist, Ambassador?”

“I think that’s for everybody else to decide.”

Haley has clearly made a calculated resolution to not criticize Trump too harshly on private issues. She undoubtedly believes that might flip off MAGA voters who would possibly defect to her. But with lower than a month to go earlier than her house state major, the try-not-to-offend-anyone technique isn’t working.

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Footnote: Haley confirmed, as beforehand reported, that her home had been swatted–a false emergency name–whereas she was not at house. But she disclosed that she and her husband Michael, who’s away on army deployment, “take care of my parents. They are 87 and 90…And they were at home and with their caregiver. And so I will tell you that the last thing you want is to see multiple law enforcement officials with guns drawn pointing at my parents and thinking that something happened. It is an awful situation. It put the law enforcement officers in danger. It put my family in danger.”

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This is outrageous and unacceptable. The feds should step up efforts to hint these making these reckless calls and ensure they get important jail time.