Former United Nations ambassador, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, met a bitter defeat in Nevada’s non-binding primary. Following this loss, Haley condemns the election process saying that it is ‘rigged’ in Trump’s favor. Jay Faison, a North Carolina political donor supporting Haley, accused the state party chairman of rigging the state party election to ensure Trump’s victory. Faison expressed that the way from a caucus system to having a primary was apparently an attempt to improve the odds for Trump.
However, despite the over 60,000 early votes from mail-ins, Trump won, leading many of Haley’s supporters to proclaim that Trump rigged the caucus. Thomas Kramer, a lifelong Republican commented, “It feels like the guys that were complaining about an election being stolen are stealing an election.”
Nevada Republican Primary (90% in)
"None of these Candidates": 42,534 (62.9%)
Nikki Haley: 21,735 (30.8%) pic.twitter.com/mUtckkakBH— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) February 7, 2024
The Las Vegas Review-Journal spoke to several supporters of Haley who claimed the process was rigged. This prompted Haley to participate in the primary election, where ultimately she competed against a box named “none of these candidates.” In essence, Haley competed against no one in the primary and handed Trump a mortifying defeat. Nevertheless, hanging onto denial, Haley insisted that in Nevada, the rich always win whether at the slot machines or the ballot box.
Trump, in the words of The Hill, “noted your primary vote doesn’t mean anything. It’s your caucus vote.” Indeed, Trump encouraged his supporters not to bother with the primary since the caucuses were more meaningful to securing the nomination.
Through this statement, along with local media promoting the primary as a denotation of Haley’s relevance to Nevada, it is understandable as to why Trump received over 65% of the vote in Nevada. Voter turnout was far lower in the primary than expected. News agency Reuters, which is left-leaning, considers Haley’s defeat as ‘mortifying’, yet Haley’s spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas diminished the significance of the result, arguing that the process was rigged in favor of Trump.
In actuality, Perez-Cubas portrays a familiar scene following an unfavorable for Haley election as if it weren’t Haley’s fault. Staffers always put a positive spin on a campaign that is going nowhere. Nothing proves this statement more valid than that of the early pre-caucus results where Haley had no significant voter following and hardly gained traction in the polls. However, upon the announcement of the primary, Haley decided to focus her attention on this vote, despite Trump boasting his popularity in Nevada.
The decision not to spend money in a rigged election could be shifting the blame, or the initial cynical decision to disregard the caucuses. Regarding other states affected by Haley’s momentum, a similar rebuke can be expected. As the supporting campaign song, “Always look on the bright side of life,” taken from “Monty Python’s Masacre”, during a scene where a condemned prisoner is reaching his end during a crucifixion. Nothing can bring down Haley’s spirits, and her campaign is so positive that any worse of an electoral outcome can still make it look like it’s not all that bad of a defeat.
A perfect illustration of Haley’s tactics is the third place in Iowa which for her advanced into better odds in New Hampshire, another defeat, but the silver lining was to look forward to the chances in her ‘sweet state of South Carolina”. Conceding the rigged caucus, and then Trump winning the primary, and rubbing it in Haley’s face that she couldn’t even beat the box labelled ‘none of these candidates’ in the same primary. Haley’s mindset is that nothing bad come turn about. Even when ranked at the top of her game, Trump remains unbeaten except against reality.
NEWS: @NikkiHaley responds to losing the Nevada GOP primary to "none of these candidates:"
She tells me NV's system was a "scam" that was "rigged from the start."
There were no delegates at stake so she didn't "spend a day or a dollar there."
Via @TheIssueIsShow pic.twitter.com/L5wxTHaEqO
— Elex Michaelson (@Elex_Michaelson) February 7, 2024
Perhaps it might seem unreasonable from a more optimistic standpoint, where first defeats could lead to a win in the next round. Nevertheless, that is not the case with the results from every state that Haley lost, even with fervent rallying in place. Former allies Faison and Michael Whatley who once co-chaired the Hayley fundraising committee are even switching sides and now rallying behind Trump. It is only that Haley cannot hold Trump back any longer.
Thoughts raised a possible Trump-Haley ticket may have all been laid to rest now.