Nikki Haley will leave this race at some point, but it won’t be today and it won’t be after she loses the South Carolina primary on Saturday, or so she says.
On the contrary, Haley is in this race for the long haul, she claims, past Super Tuesday and on up through the remaining primary calendar.
Her “big announcement” on Monday was seen by some as a potential withdrawal from the race. Instead, Haley stepped up her fruitless attacks on Trump and vowed to soldier on, as CBS News reports:
Nikki Haley, the last Republican challenger to Donald Trump, vowed to stay in the race for the GOP nomination Tuesday, saying she feels “no need to kiss the ring.”
The former ambassador to the United Nations and governor of South Carolina said during a campaign stop in Greenville that she’s “far from” dropping out of the race, regardless of an expected primary loss in her home state on Saturday. She said she would campaign “until the last person votes,” noting that only four states will have held their primary contests by Saturday.
“Dropping out would be the easy route,” she said. “I’ve been the underdog in every race I’ve ever run. I’ve always been David taking on Goliath. And like David, I’m not just fighting someone bigger than me. I’m fighting for something bigger than myself.”
There are two schools of thought on this.
The first one says Haley has every right to stay in the race as long as she wants. This isn’t Soviet Russia or Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, we have a democracy. In that sense, until all the voters get their say, Haley should remain in the race and fight for every primary vote she can muster.
It’s healthy for the Republican Party for Haley to be attacking Trump, or so the anti-Trump contingent of the GOP establishment keeps telling everyone. Haley is running an outsider campaign as if she’s the third-party candidate in the race between Trump and Biden.
On the other hand, from a party loyalty perspective, Nikki Haley has no path to the nomination. Her continued presence in the race is costing time and money on the part of the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign in terms of joint fundraising. The longer Haley drags this out, the less time Trump has to raise general election money.
In that regard, Haley’s so-called altruistic act of helping strengthen her party is a sham. There is no reasonable argument for Haley to remain in the race at this point.
Fine, let her stay until South Carolina just to see if the fourth state on the schedule rejects Trump and decides to anoint someone else. That’s not going to happen, but there’s a non-zero chance that it could happen.
Arguably, though, if Trump wins South Carolina and then wallops Haley on Super Tuesday, she needs to step aside. She’s costing her party precious resources to fight against Joe Biden in November.
Furthermore, her attacks on Trump are worn and not resonating with the GOP base. Instead, she’s making the Democrats’ arguments for them and running a general election campaign against the eventual GOP nominee.
As the report above continues, Haley’s not in a winning position in her home state:
Haley’s home turf hasn’t translated into an advantage for her in the polls. Nearly two-thirds, 65%, of likely GOP primary voters said in a recent CBS News poll that they’d vote for Trump, with Haley trailing at 30%.
Haley acknowledged the growing calls for her to drop out and her low polling against Trump, but argued that Trump has only secured high-profile endorsements because fellow Republicans fear him. A number of South Carolina Republicans, including Sen. Tim Scott and Rep. Nancy Mace, whose careers were once helped by Haley’s support, are backing Trump.
Haley has lost her former backers because she’s a dead-end candidate this year.
Trump has proven, if anything, he’s willing to fight tooth and nail and campaign hard to earn the nomination. He continues holding events around the country ginning up support for his candidacy.
Haley is doing the best she can, but it’s not enough and never will be.
