CLICK LOGO TO READ: MIDLIFE [NON-CONCESSION]-19, March 06, 2024 – A Forked-Tongue Non-Concession.

MIDLIFE [NON-CONCESSION]-19, March 06, 2024 – A Forked-Tongue Non-Concession.

In her concession … cough, cough … speech – while her campaign has been over for weeks, if not months – Nikki Haley looked more bitter than Hillary Clinton in 2016 after also getting trounced by then candidate Donald J. Trump. Watch the video. Haley can be seen gritting her teeth, and if you watch the video closely, it looks like there is a little bit of crow running out of the side of her mouth, and of course, what would a non-concession speech be without a veiled jab at former President Trump.

Observantly read how Haley attempts to justify her verbal-gymnastics flip-flop regarding endorsing the presumptive nominee, Trump. Auditory tip, when someone tells you something, then follows it with, “but,” pay particular attention to what follows. “But” in part discredits what was just said, because what was just said is being qualified with context. The context determines what value – if any – what was just previously said carries, or if it was discounted entirely. In Haley’s case, she uses fallacy, the allusive appeal to women. Mind you, this is while she conjoins advocating for making autonomous choices, “Never just follow the crowd,” while simultaneously leading an alleged group of women, her voters, of whom she implies will follow her (1.).

Additionally, Haley just spent the last couple of weeks campaigning, dogging the former President, which is ultimately dogging his voters, all while speaking in the context of bringing people together. Maybe asserting that she speaks with a “forked-tongue” is not enough; Haley is worse.

“’I have always been a conservative Republican and always supported the Republican nominee,’ Haley said. ‘But on this question, as she did on so many others, Margaret Thatcher provided some good advice when she said, 'Never just follow the crowd. Always make up your own mind.’

"It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him, and I hope he does that," Haley continued. "At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people. This is now his time for choosing." (1.).

Yet, would it not be her time to choose, to endorse Trump, as she asserts, “politics is about bringing people together,” right (1.)? If she did, that would be leadership, while merely saying it, is pandering.

Her reason for staying in the campaign was for, “Americans to have their voices heard” (1.).

“’I wanted Americans to have their voices heard,’ the former South Carolina governor said Wednesday morning in Charleston. ‘I have done that. I have no regrets. And though I will no longer be a candidate, I will not stop using my voice for the things I believe in’” (1.).

What she was really saying is, that she was then going to continue to campaign to demonstrate that she could fracture the party, that she could hurt Trump – or at least the appearance of hurting Trump – then claim that Trump would be responsible for bringing the party together, but not without her. It is Trump’s responsibility to bring the party together, yes, but her premise is false. In true passive-aggressive form, she caused the fracturing of the party at the point that she had no path forward which was tangible weeks ago, like when Ron DeSantis dropped out, yet she chose to further create a divide.

***

Haley also played the “woman” card, in a further attempt to fracture the GOP.

“As she was prepping her White House run, Haley made sure to emphasize her gender — and her toughness. The title of her pre-launch book, ‘If You Want Something Done …,’ was a nod to Thatcher, who once quipped that ‘if you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.’”

“’They all think we can be bullied, kicked around,’ Haley said in her launch video. ‘I don’t put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if you’re wearing heels’” (1.).

Does this language inspire unity, or division?

***

What about Democrats, Biden? They are using Haley’s divisive words and actions to their advantage.

“In response to Haley's exit, President Biden said in a statement that ‘Donald Trump has made it clear he doesn't want Nikki Haley's supporters. I want to be clear: There is place for them in my campaign’” (1.).

What impact does it have on the GOP, and the General Election?

The context is this, as reported in the article, “[b]ut in a sign of intraparty tension that may linger through the fall, Haley pointedly did not endorse Trump in her concession speech — despite vowing last summer to back the eventual GOP nominee” (1.).

“Prior to Tuesday’s primaries, Haley had said she no longer felt bound by her so-called loyalty pledge — which the Republican National Committee required of all 2024 GOP debate participants — because the increasingly Trump-controlled RNC is ‘now not the same’ as before (even as she ruled out running as an independent in November).

“’I haven’t heard him pledge to me that he would support me if I won,’ Haley added Tuesday morning. ‘So I don’t know why I have to go and pledge to him that I would support him’” (1.).

Did she not just get done saying in her non-concession speech, going so far as to quoting Margaret Thatcher, “Never just follow the crowd. Always make up your own mind” (1.)?

That was Tuesday night, while it was just Tuesday morning that she asserted that she was somehow justifying her actions based on the former President’s lead? Does she lead, or follow, which is it? Well, Haley is all over the place, evidenced by her own words, on the very same day.

Note, she had already took the pledge prior to the Republican debates, so saying, “I don’t know why I have to go and pledge to him that I would support him” (1.). The accurate context, for which she is void in her words, is that she made a pre-debate loyalty pledge specific to participating in the debates, Trump did not. Trump chose not to participate in the debates. The pledge was a function of participating in the debates, in the context of running on the GOP ticket. It is rather obvious. Haley did what she had to do to get on the debate stage, and is now flip-flopping in the moment for the opportunity, whatever that might be – to hang on even longer, perhaps?

Like a chameleon attempting to commit to the green grass, while scaling the brown tree, Haley is demonstrably without integrity. Haley is not trustworthy.

Perhaps she thinks that she is entitled to the VP position? Personally, I think that Haley as the VP candidate would hurt Trump with his base, which alone could sink the Election in favor of Biden. On a human level, Haley is likely in a very lonely position, essentially unemployed, not an elected person, and she is now slipping into the dustbin of American political history among the likes of Hillary Clinton, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and Beto “Wedo” O’Rourke, to name a few. If not selected for VP, or a cabinet position, she is done. Haley made herself unelectable, not relevant, because she exposed herself. She is willing to sell herself out for political gain.

For example, some billionaire donors, some of which are Democrat donors, donated to Haley’s campaign (2.), while it is discernible that many Democrats voted for Haley in open Primaries (1.).

“Before the Iowa caucuses, some 43% of Haley’s voters there told pollsters they would rather cast their November ballots for Biden than Trump. And in exit polls conducted Tuesday, 80% of Haley voters in North Carolina, 69% in California and 69% in Virginia were unwilling to say they’ll support the GOP nominee ‘whoever it is.’ Similarly, large majorities of Haley voters also said Tuesday that Trump would be unfit for office if convicted of a crime and that they’d be dissatisfied with him as the nominee. In North Carolina (50%) and Virginia (51%), they gave Biden a higher approval rating than Americans overall” (1.).

Know the source.

Note that Iowa had open Primaries (3.), North Carolina had a “partially closed” Primary (4.), California, a closed Primary for President (5.), and Virginia, had an open Primary (6.). So, although where there was an open, or partially open, Primary, it is safe to say that a voter who voted for Haley in the Primary, but would later vote for Biden in the General – if Trump were the Republican nominee – those voters are likely Democrats, and those noted pre-election or exit polls are virtually useless.

If you are an American voting for the disaster that is the Biden Administration, currently adversely affecting the entire country, you are either sadly ill informed, or complicit. A vote for Biden is clearly not in America’s best interest.

***

What does VP polling look like, YouGov poll released March 04, 2024 (7.)?

Well, Haley, is a distant tenth, including ranking behind Democrat, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (7).

DeSantis: 62%
Cruz: 58%
Carson: 57%
Ramaswamy: 52%
Scott: 50%
Huckabee Sanders: 49%
Carlson: 46%
RFK Jr.: 44%
Noem: 37%
Haley: 35%

***

Further digging her own political grave while stooping to new depths in earlier State Primaries, Haley went so far as to condemn the November Election outcome, thus conceding to Biden, if Trump is the nominee.

“’If Donald Trump is the nominee, we will lose. It is that simple,’ Haley predicted last week in Utah. ‘At some point, if Republicans really want to get this back on track, we’ve got to acknowledge that maybe it’s him. Maybe Donald Trump is the reason we're losing’” (1.).

But what is Trump’s record in terms of the Trump brand, the Trump endorsement, for example, facts often grossly overlooked or skewed by political pundits?

Reading the below Trump-endorsement column chart, left to right, column one is the Election year, column two is total endorsements, column three is Primary endorsements, column four is Primary “success rate,” column five is General Election endorsements, while column six is General Election success rate (8.).

Excluding 2024, since the data is not complete, 2024 Elections ongoing, Trump’s Primary endorsement success rate ranges from 67% to 100%, while his General Election endorsement success rate ranges from 59% to 83% (2.). These are simple statistics; most Trump endorsements have resulted in an election victory, 385 out of 410 Primary endorsements, or 93.90% (2018-2023), and 420 out of 548 General Election endorsements, or 76.64% (8.). Those look like winning numbers to me.

Trump won in 2016, and did not win in 2020, although 2020 was fraught with Election fraud, it was not a win, so with better Election-fraud mitigations in place for 2024, Trump’s chances are good in November, contrary to Haley’s unfounded assertions.

***

The question now is where does Haley go next — and do her supporters go with her? (1.).

I am going with, CNN, as a political contributor … cough, cough. She is damaged goods on the Trump ticket.

***

A forked-tongue non-concession.

- Matfucius

1.) https://www.yahoo.com/news/nikki-haley-drops-out-of-republican-presidential-race-clearing-path-for-trump-vs-biden-in-november-150505926.html

2.) https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2023/12/05/here-are-the-billionaires-backing-nikki-haley-as-a-trump-alternative-linkedin-co-founder-charles-koch-and-more/?sh=4bc880e243dd

3.) https://openprimaries.org/states_iowa/

4.) https://www.vote411.org/node/12160

5.) https://calmatters.org/politics/elections/2024/02/california-primary-election-voter-questions/

6.) https://www.vote411.org/node/12173

7.) https://www.yahoo.com/news/voters-want-trump-vice-president-183454493.html

8.) https://ballotpedia.org/Endorsements_by_Donald_Trump