Despite surging to a 4-point victory in Vermont’s primary, Republican presidential aspirant Nikki Haley took the cue of losing the other14 elections that were held Tuesday to Donald Trump and is dropping out of the race, she confirmed in a short speech Wednesday morning in Charleston, South Carolina. Barring an intervening legal or health event, Trump will be the party’s nominee this November.
As she did throughout the race, Haley tried in her concession to have it both ways on the subject of the front-runner. She did notendorse his candidacy, saying, “It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those who did not support him,” but she also did not allege that he’s unfit for office, finishing that same sentence with “and I hope he does that.” (She added that she has “always supported the Republican nominee.”)
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What was the point of all this, then? Haley provided a thematic hint on Wednesday by quoting Margaret Thatcher on the importance of not following the crowd at the same time that she hinted that she will, in fact, follow the crowd by supporting Trump. Her campaign didn’t ultimately win many delegates, but it was an outsize success at building her brand as a conservative who wants her membership in the business and political power establishment to beperceived as a victory for feminism. As Slate wrote a few weeks ago, “A year from now, Haley could be balancing a CNN contributor contract, one or more Wall Street or venture capital jobs, and an influence-building role disbursing money from a leadership PAC to candidates who occupy her relatively-young-and-sort-of-moderate GOP niche.”
Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement AdvertisementSince then, she has only continued to rake in the dollars—$12 million in total in February that can be transferred to her leadership PAC now that she’s not running for president. As she said in Charleston, “Being a private citizen is aprivilege in itself, and that’s a privilege I look forward to enjoying.” She might have some repair work to do if she wants to get a job in a prospective second Trump administration, but the cashing in can start this afternoon. Anyone up for a Margaret Thatcher children’s book “written” by the former governor of South Carolina?
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