Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley denied that she will drop out of the race before her home state’s primary this weekend.
“In a general election, you are given a choice. In a primary, you make your choice,” she said while speaking at an event in Greenville on Feb. 20 before addressing the speculation about the fate of her campaign.
Haley said the calls for her to end her presidential bit originated with “the political elite, the party bosses, [and] the cheerleaders in the commentator world.”
“In politics, the herd mentality is enormously strong,” Haley said. “A lot of Republican politicians have surrendered to it. The pressure on them is way too much. They didn’t want to be left out of the club.”
She said many politicians who publicly support former President Donald Trump “privately dread him” but that they are “too afraid to say it out loud.”
Although she initially mentioned her concerns about the nation’s literacy rate, rising housing costs, and threats posed by weak security at the southern border, the majority of Haley’s roughly 30-minute speech focused on jabs at Trump and President Joe Biden – dubbing the two men “dividers” and too old.
“I feel no need to kiss the ring,” she said before pausing for applause offered by some members of the audience. “I have no fear of Trump’s retribution. … My own political future is of zero concern.”
She said voters deserve a “real choice” and not a “Soviet-style election where there is only one candidate, and he gets 99% of the vote.” She later said Trump’s losses in Iowa and New Hampshire – where 49% and 46% of voters respectively supported another candidate – were “not good.” Haley also accused Trump of helping Biden by being the only candidate the incumbent president could beat in the general election.
“He is getting meaner and more offensive by the day. He is trying to bully me and anyone who supports me,” she said.
Haley also described her former boss as “more unstable and unhinged” and alleged that he “spends more time in the courtroom than on the campaign trail.”
Haley said she would keep running until the American people “close that door” and that the primaries “have barely begun.” The South Carolina Republican Primary will be held on Feb. 26, where the state’s former governor hopes to outperform Trump after losing in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada.
According to RealClearPolling, Trump is predicted to lead Haley in South Carolina’s primary by an average of about 25%.
“If I weren’t in the race, we’d be reading the exact same storyline until November 5,” said the former United Nations ambassador. “As a country, we’ve never seen such dissatisfaction with the leading candidates.”
Of Biden, Haley said the incumbent president “is doing more damage to himself than any Republican ever could” and that he “has turned our country upside down.”
“Every time he opens his mouth, he sounds like his mind is closing up shop,” she said. “The Democrats are getting weaker by holding a coronation for Biden.”
“If the race ended today, we would have the longest general election in history,” said Haley. “There are still eight and a half months before election day. Do we really want to spend every day from now until November watching America’s two most disliked politicians duke it out?”
