
Trump World in Talks With Haley for Eleventh-Hour Joint Campaign Event
A gender gap needs fixing.
DONALD TRUMPāS ONETIME U.N. ambassador and former primary rival, Nikki Haley, is in talks to join him on the campaign trail in an attempt to win over disaffected Republicans, sources familiar with the discussions tell The Bulwark.
The details and dates for the joint appearance havenāt been fully worked out, but the likeliest scenario would put the two together at a town hall toward the end of the month, perhaps involving Fox News personality Sean Hannity, the sources said.
Facing a yawning gender gap, Trumpās campaign has hosted five other town halls moderated by female political figures since August, but none with the stature of Haley. The former ambassador ran a tough primary race against Trump, becoming the last Republican standing against him. Though the primary ended on a contentious note, she spoke on his behalf at the Republican National Convention on July 16.
Since then, however, Haley and Trump have not appeared together. And she hinted that tensions still linger on her new SiriusXM satellite radio show last month.
āI donāt agree with Trump 100 percent of the time,ā Haley said.
āI have not forgotten what he said about me. Iāve not forgotten what he said about my husband or his, you know, deployment time or his military service. I havenāt forgotten about his or his campaignās tactics from, you know, putting a bird cage outside our hotel room to calling me ābird brain,āā Haley said on her show, adding that sheās still for Trump because she thinks he āwill make the country better.ā
Those comments garnered some attention in Trumpās orbit. One confidant of the ex-president privately joked that talk like that is usually taboo in his circles because āif youāre with him 99 percent of the time, youāre a fucking traitor in Trumpās eyes.ā
But Trump prizes winning over servile loyalty, and he recognizes that Haleyās brand as an establishment Republicanāone who respectfully disagrees with him on the marginsācould help in November, even if he said the opposite during the primary.
Trump and his campaign are also keenly aware that Vice President Kamala Harrisās campaign has taken steps to court Haley voters. The vice presidentās team launched Republicans for Harris two months ago, it has hired a National Republican Engagement Director, and on Wednesday, it showcased the support of more than a hundred Republicans at an event in Pennsylvania. A Democratic-leaning super PAC called Haley Voters for Harris is lending support, as well.
Many polls show Harris is receiving marginally more support from Democrats than Trump is from Republicans and that sheās enjoying a similarly tiny measure of additional crossover support from Republicans than he is from Democrats.
āThereās a good number of independents and Haley-style Republicans who are very open to voting for VP Harris, and thatās why we are open to doing events with Republicans and on Fox News,ā Harris spokesman Brian Fallon told reporters after the vice president had a tense interview with Bret Baier.
A poll of those voters published exclusively last week by The Bulwark showed that 43 percent of Haley primary voters were unaware she endorsed Trump after she quit the race. To help educate those voters, Haley has already recorded a robocall to be sent to them on the Trump campaignās behalf.
But that poll, which was conducted by the Democratic-leaning firm Blueprint, showed other troubling signs for Trump. He only carried Republican and Independent-Republican Haley primary voters by a 9 percentage point margin over Harris: 45ā36 percent. Those same voters said they had backed Trump over Joe Biden by a 31-point margin in the 2020 election.
The 22-point difference in those two margins could have huge ramifications in the campaign, especially in the seven swing states where Haley earned nearly 1 million votes during the primary.
But Blueprint pollster Evan Roth Smith cautioned that thereās no evidence that Haley can simply transfer her primary supporters to Trump. He pointed out that the poll showed that Haley voters, which did not include Democrats, were most supportive of Trump in 2016 when he ran against Hillary Clinton, indicating that their backing has steadily declined regardless of his opponent.
āHaley is not the decisive factor for these voters,ā Smith said. āThe decisive factor is Trump. Heās what pushed them to vote for Haley in the primary. She was the vehicle to capture this drift. She wasnāt the cause.ā
A Haley spokesperson did not provide comment.
A top Republican consultant familiar with discussions in Trumpās campaign said Haley has āalready exceeded expectations helping us out,ā noting that āshe has done a robocall supporting Trump and she has helped fundraise for the [former] president.ā
āThereās no reason to doubt her loyalty and willingness to help,ā the source said. āNow they just have to get the schedules lined up.ā
But others in Trumpās orbit werenāt fully convinced that a joint event would happen, speculating that some hard feelings could get in the way. āIāll believe it when I seeā Haley onstage with Trump, a Trump adviser said on condition of anonymity.
āI hope it happens,ā the adviser added, pointing out Haley would be the perfect surrogate to close out Trumpās de facto town hall series with women hosts, which have included former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard in Wisconsin, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in Michigan, Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn in Michigan, Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna in North Carolina, and Fox News personality Harris Faulkner in Georgia.
āAnyone who wants to make America great again, secure our southern border, restore law and order, and bring down inflation only has one option on the ballot, and that option is President Donald J. Trump,ā said Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, who criticized Harris. āWe welcome all Americans who share these values to join our team.ā
What a disappointment Nikki Haley is.
Bowing to the sex-assault felon pathological liar who tried to violently overthrow our Republic.
Sure, Nicki, as long as you donāt care about democracy, decency, integrity, morality- all good.
With the kind of comments Haley is making, she is demonstrating that power is the only thing she cares about. She is not a stupid woman. She knows his trade plans are bad for America, she knows bowing before Putin is bad for America. She knows Trump is a pig of a man who commits sexual assault whenever he can, she knows he demeans our military, knows he is a business fraudster and knows he is a criminal.
But she thinks his policies are good for America? ?
No she doesnāt believe that. She believes that she can benefit by having Trump and his Maga extremists support her later on.
To think I once believed that Haley was a person of integrity. My god, how do good people choose power over everything else?