'Having fainting spells': Conservative slams Trump’s 'unhinged' attacks on Nikki Haley

25 January 2024

After losing the New Hampshire primary to GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump by roughly 11 percent, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley vowed to stay in the race and focus her energy on the forthcoming primary in her state — much to the chagrin of Trump and his loyalists.

Trump could have responded by challenging Haley to the type of one-on-one presidential debate that now-President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) had near the end of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary — a debate that was followed by Sanders conceding to Biden and giving him a full endorsement. Instead, Trump is angrily demanding that Haley drop out of the race and is threatening to blacklist any Republicans who are still supporting her.

Haley has described Trump's "temper tantrum" as a demonstration of his "insecurity."

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In a biting op-ed published by Politico on January 24, conservative Rich Lowry (best known for his work for the National Review) argues that Trump and his MAGA loyalists are making themselves look bad by "having fainting spells" because Haley "may stay in the race for another month."

"Haley is getting skewered by the MAGA right, led by Donald Trump himself, for having the temerity to persist in the act of running for president," Lowry explains. "She's a tool of evil donors who are distorting the Republican primary process to weaken Trump ahead of his showdown with President Joe Biden. And, oh, yeah, according to Marjorie Taylor Greene, her consultants should go to jail."

Lowry continues, "Now, there's a natural tendency for a party, once a candidate has established a decisive lead for the nomination, to push other opponents to exit. But the vehemence of the attacks on Haley goes beyond this normal pressure on a trailing candidate; her internal GOP enemies are making a moral condemnation of her, as a political candidate and person, for not suspending immediately."

The conservative journalist believes that "despite her brave talk," Haley, "may end up dropping out ahead of South Carolina." In the meantime, he argues, berating and insulting Haley gives Biden's reelection campaign more ammunition to use against Trump.

"All the indications are that Haley isn't creating strong loyalists in her element of the primary vote that will follow her wherever she goes," Lowry explains. "But she is appealing to the Republicans and Republican-leaning independents that Trump needs to substantially bring home in November to beat Biden. Killing her with kindness would make much more sense for Trump than, in irate speeches and unhinged social media posts, reminding her voters why they don't like him in the first place. The fault here isn't with Haley, but with Trump himself."

Read Rich Lowry's full Politico op-ed at this link.

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