Despite losing yet another presidential primary election to Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, Nikki Haley continues to say she’ll remain in the race.
On Tuesday night, following her defeat of more than 30 points in the Michigan primary, Haley categorized the GOP as a ship with a hole in it. While appearing on CNN that night, the former governor of South Carolina and one-time UN ambassador under the Trump administration, said:
“Look at what’s happened in Michigan. You look back in 2012, Michigan was such a bright spot. … They had just passed right to work. THey were winning seats up and down the ticket. …
“But, ever since Donald Trump became president, they’ve lost the governor’s mansion. They’ve lost the state House. They’ve lost the state Senate.”
Haley also pointed out that similar losses have been experienced by the Republican Party in Minnesota as well as Colorado — the latter of which hasn’t had a Republican candidate garner more than 45% of the vote since before Trump was president back in 2016.
She added:
“It is a pattern we continue to see. You’re seeing the same thing whether you look at all the early states, Donald Trump didn’t get 40% of any of the Republican primary vote. It is a problem.
“He’s not bringing people into the party. He’s pushing people out of the party.”
She referenced data that shows there are 10% fewer registered Republicans in Colorado today than before Trump was in the White House.
Haley also said that the Republican Party is changing its policies and not just its tone. The party no longer talks about shrinking the federal government, reducing spending and reducing waste.
It is taking an entirely new approach to achieving peace through strength, and about strengthening alliances even more. She said:
“Now, you’ve got Donald Trump basically saying he’s going to tell [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to go and invade our allies who stood with us after 9/11. It’s all a shift.”
Dana Bash, the host of the CNN program, pressed Haley about why voters in the Republican Party weren’t siding with her at the polls.
She sort of evaded the question, responding instead:
“We’re in a ship with a hole in it, and we can either go down with the ship and watch the country go socialist Left, or we can see that we need to take the life raft and move in a new direction.
“That’s what this is about. It is very telling when now the [Republican National Committee] is not about winning races up and down the ticket. The RNC is now about Donald Trump. They made that very clear. So, now that’s become his legal slush fund.”
The RNC is about to go through a major shift in leadership — and probably approach — after Ronna McDaniel announced this week she’d be stepping down as chair following the Super Tuesday primaries on March 8.
