Former President Donald Trump is reportedly considering Iowa third-place finisher Nikki Haley as a potential running mate — even as one of his staunchest allies is urging Trump to reject the idea.
Axios reported on Thursday that Trump’s 30-point blowout in Iowa on Monday has made his nomination as the GOP presidential contender “inevitable.”
That leaves the only question mark: whom he will pick as his vice presidential nominee.
Trump has said he’s made that decision but declined to reveal it.
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Axios, citing “media reports and chatter from top surrogates,” identified three main possibles: Haley, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, and New York Rep. Elise Stefanik.
Haley would appear to be the obvious outlier.
Just this week, after beating her soundly in Iowa, Trump reiterated his insult that Haley, who served as UN ambassador when he was in the White House, is a “birdbrain” and a “disaster.”
He also referred to her on his social media platform, Truth Social, as “Nimrada,” which is a play on Haley’s real first name, Nimarata.
One leftist writer at New York magazine claimed Trump played “another racist dog whistle” by using Haley’s given name. “‘Nimrada’ is just 2024’s ‘Barack ‘HUSSEIN’ Obama,’ meant to suggest Trump’s non-white political foe is devious or un-American,” the columnist lamented.
Nonetheless, Axios argued that by selecting Haley, Trump would “trigger all-out revolt in MAGA world,” yet she “could help attract moderates and swing voters that he’ll need for the general election.”
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Trump has not dismissed Haley as his choice outright, despite the insults.
As the Tampa Free Press reported last month, Trump was asking his closest confidants, “What do you think of Nikki?” Politico noted at the time that Trump was most focused on Haley at the moment.
For her part, Haley has not directly rejected the idea.
She has repeatedly said she is not in the race to run for “second place.”
But as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has noted, including last week at the final debate before the Iowa caucuses on Monday, Haley will not come out and say she will decline Trump’s invitation to become VP.
DeSantis War Room, the governor’s rapid response media team, posted on X last month that Trump surrogates — such as Arizona Republican Kari Lake and Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara — as well as Haley and Trump himself had not definitively ruled out her being Trump’s No. 2.
“We all know why Nikki Haley is running,” DWR posted on X with a graphic that proclaimed in Trump’s signature style “Trump Nikki 2024,” underscored by “Make the Establishment Great Again.” The post also promoted a website, trumpnikki2024.com.
Yet Trump’s fans are openly calling on him to just say no to Haley.
Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz told Politico on Thursday: “Nikki Haley as VP would be an establishment neocon fantasy and a MAGA nightmare. On Day One, she would convert the Naval Observatory [the vice president’s official residence] into an anti-Trump, resistance headquarters, undermining him at every step.”
As the Free Press posted last month, conservative pundit Tucker Carlson also has said he would “advocate against it [a Trump-Haley ticket] as strongly as I could,” if Trump opts for Haley.
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