Nikki Haley has withdrawn from the 2024 Republican presidential race after a humiliating Super Tuesday where she lost fourteen states to Donald Trump and won just one.
In the emotional comments, she paid tribute to her mother, said the world is “on fire” because of America’s “withdrawal” and then confirmed she would not support Trump.
She then wished him “luck” and said she wasn’t ready to support him, using Margaret Thatcher’s quote: “Never just follow the crowd. Always make a decision.’
Thatcher called the phrase the “motto of her life” in 1997, adding that “if necessary, get the crowd to follow you.”
“It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond who did not support him,” Haley said.
Nikki Haley has withdrawn from the 2024 Republican presidential race after a humiliating Super Tuesday where she lost fourteen states to Donald Trump and won just one.
Haley left the stage without asking any questions and with her two children next to her
She was referring to the large share of her supporters who said on Super Tuesday that they will not vote for Trump in November, according to exit polls.
An ABC exit poll found that majorities of Haley voters in North Carolina (78%), Virginia (68%) and California (69%) would not be committed to supporting whoever the Republican candidate is.
‘And I hope he does. At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not dismissing them,” Haley continued.
“In all likelihood, Trump will be the Republican nominee when our party convention convenes in July. I congratulate him and wish him the best. I wish the best to anyone who wants to become President of America. Our country is too precious to let our differences divide us.”
Trump notably did not extend an olive branch in a statement a campaign official posted minutes after Haley spoke. He said she was being “trumped” and said that “much of her money came from radical left Democrats, as did many of her supporters.”
‘Right now I hope she stays in the “race” and fights it out to the end!’ Trump wrote.
That came hours after he failed to acknowledge her in his victory speech at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday night, after calling her a “bird brain” in the final days of her campaign.
Haley opened the speech by saying, “The time has now come to suspend my campaign. I said I wanted Americans to make their voices heard. I did that. I have no regrets.
“And while I will no longer be a candidate, I will not stop using my voice for the things I believe in.”
“Our national debt will ultimately crush our economy. A smaller federal government is necessary not only for our freedom, but for our survival. The road to socialism is the road to ruin for America.”
Haley left the stage without asking any questions and with her two children Rena and Nalin by her side. Her husband Michael is currently deployed to Africa, which Trump has used to troll her in recent weeks.
Trump immediately fired off a Truth Social post saying Haley “got trumped last night” and downplayed her lone win in Vermont.
“Much of her money came from radical left Democrats, as did many of her voters, almost 50%, according to the polls,” he added.
‘Right now I hope she stays in the “race” and fights it out to the end!’ continued Trump, who then turned his attention to November in a series of scathing attacks on Biden.
The former governor of South Carolina announced in a speech in Charleston that she was ending her campaign after hiding the biggest day of the primaries from the public eye
End of the road: Haley ended her campaign with no realistic path to defeating Trump, who is still days away from getting the delegates he needs
Red White and Blue: Haley ended her run after outlasting fellow Republican contenders, but won only in Vermont and Washington, D.C.
Her departure after a vicious battle with the Republican front-runner now means that the general election will be a duel that the majority of Americans dread: 81-year-old Joe Biden versus 77-year-old Trump.
A defiant Haley directed sharp language at Trump toward the end of her campaign, claiming he is in cognitive decline and not the best candidate to beat Biden in November.
Trump began giving her nicknames like “birdbrain” and “Nimrada” – based on her Indian first name Nimarata – but then all but ignored her as it became clear he would dominate the Republican race.
She survived as the last major Republican challenger to Trump, got the two-person race she wanted and was only swallowed up by Trump’s overwhelming popularity among MAGA voters and his Republican base
“Are we really going to have two 80-year-olds running for president in this country? The fact is that when you are their age, you deteriorate mentally,” she told CBS News days ago, also applying the label to her party’s leader.
On Tuesday, Haley told Fox & Friends, “I didn’t hear him promise that he would support me if I won, so I don’t know why I have to promise him that I would support him.”
Haley suspended her presidential campaign after being swept by Donald Trump in the Super Tuesday states.
She defeated a group of male contenders she sometimes referred to as the “boys,” including former heavyweight Ron DeSantis, who defeated her in Iowa.
But she failed to capture her home state of South Carolina, which could have given impetus to what developed into an insurgent campaign.
Instead, she failed to win any contest other than Vermont on Tuesday and earlier in Washington DC, where just over 2,000 voters gave her a victory that was ridiculed by Trump’s team for calling her “queen of the swamp’ made.
Haley began her campaign trying to walk the difficult line of distinguishing herself from Trump without blaming him outright as she sought space in a Republican electorate devoted to the front-runner.
She was the first to raise questions about President Joe Biden’s mental faculties and cognitive abilities — but then turned that criticism on Trump himself as the race closed.
In January, she wondered why the country should be forced into an election between “two 80-year-olds” (Biden is 81 and Trump is 77).
Trump largely ignored her at first, other than complaining that her run was disloyal.
But after she gave a post-New Hampshire speech that Trump said sounded like a victory lap, he stepped up his criticism, ridiculing her as a “bird brain.”
The former UN ambassador who served under Trump criticized Trump’s position on the war against Ukraine and called for continued US support.
As she continued her campaign through the beginning of the year, she intensified her attacks, eventually winning praise from “never-Trumpers” who saw the point in weakening Trump even though she had no path to victory.
Haley even began delving into Trump’s legal troubles, first using code words like “chaos” and then saying he couldn’t beat Biden while constantly distracted by his legal troubles.
Haley survived as the last major Republican challenger to Trump, got the two-person race she wanted, and was only swallowed up by Trump’s overwhelming popularity among MAGA voters and his Republican base
On Monday morning, Haley resisted calls to quit in every Super Tuesday state, even as she failed to announce a public schedule for herself.
“As much as everyone wants to push me out, I’m not ready yet,” she told Fox & Friends.
She made some of the same arguments as Hillary Clinton when she continued her fight against Barack Obama in 2008 with a call that highlighted her groundbreaking career.
“I’m still out there fighting for the people who want a voice, so they deserve it,” Haley added.
Money didn’t seem to be a problem. She had $14 million in the bank to start the year, and she said she raised $12 million in February alone.
She outraged Trump in January, publicly pointing out that he has spent $50 million on legal fees from entities supporting his campaign.
But American for Prosperity Action, the powerful network backed by billionaire Charles Koch, announced it was suspending support after Haley lost her home state.
