Super Tuesday’s primary results effectively guaranteed that former President Donald Trump — barring additional shenanigans from a desperate establishment — will secure the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Wednesday on Newsmax’s “Eric Bolling The Balance,” Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida criticized former rival Nikki Haley for failing to honor the pledge GOP presidential candidates made last year to endorse the party’s eventual nominee.
“We all knew what we were doing when we did that,” DeSantis said.
As a condition for appearing on debate stages in 2023, the Republican National Committee asked candidates to make the pledge. DeSantis and Haley did so.
The Florida governor ended his presidential campaign following the Iowa caucus in January. Afterward, he endorsed Trump.
On Wednesday morning, after Trump’s near-sweep of Super Tuesday primaries, Haley announced that she had finally suspended her losing campaign. She did not, however, immediately endorse Trump.
That failure on her part brought a rebuke from her former rival.
“You sign the pledge saying that you’re gonna not take your ball and go home,” DeSantis said.
The Florida governor also dismissed the idea “that somehow circumstances have changed.” In other words, Haley’s emergence as the party establishment’s darling did not give her license to break her pledge.
“If I say I’m gonna do something, I’m gonna do it,” DeSantis said.
The governor’s comments on Haley and the pledge came during a 12-minute interview with Bolling posted to YouTube. Readers may view that video below. The relevant segment begins at the 1:25 mark.
On principle, of course, DeSantis had it right. He pledged to support the eventual nominee, and he has done so.
In a larger sense, however, neither the pledge question nor the segment itself seemed to reflect the new GOP reality.
For instance, in framing his question about the pledge, Bolling described DeSantis and Haley as “the odds-on-favorites for the GOP in 2028.”
That comment betrayed a shocking lack of understanding about what has changed in the Republican Party. In short, voters have rejected the old “next-man-up” approach to presidential politics that gave us John McCain and Mitt Romney.
Furthermore, everyone who has paid attention during the primary season knows that Haley has no meaningful base of support. She even finished third behind DeSantis in Iowa. Her candidacy attracted donors desperate to stop Trump by whatever means and not necessarily eager to elect her in particular.
In other words, she was the warmongering establishment cutout candidate. And anyone of her kind would have served the same purpose.
Should Nikki Haley endorse Trump?
Thus, the question of honoring her pledge might mean something as a matter of character. But in practical terms it amounts to nothing. The people who voted for her will make up their own minds, if they have not done so already. Her endorsement decision will not move the needle one way or the other.
On Wednesday, longtime Trump antagonist Mitch McConnell, the party’s Senate leader, endorsed the former president. So that was nice, for there is something to be said for party unity.
In practical terms, though, again, it made little difference. After all, the party establishment abandoned conservative principles a long time ago as it pursued neocon foreign policy objectives. And the days of GOP voters endorsing those objectives have passed. They will not return in our lifetimes. McConnell, Haley and the rest of the party establishment can decide what they wish to do with that knowledge.
