Noah notes that Nikki Haley didn’t just endorse Donald Trump, she appears to have done so without extracting any concessions whatsoever: “If she had stood her ground, Haley might have extracted rhetorical or even policy concessions from the former president. But she didn’t. It was a missed opportunity” from a candidate who instead lamely offered, “Trump would be smart to reach out to the millions of people who voted for me and continue to support me and not assume that they’re just going to be with him.”

That Haley would sooner or later endorse Trump was no great shock. She worked for him in the past, she likely still holds out hope of a future in the Republican Party, and the party’s voters (who chose Trump by decisive majorities) plainly expect everybody to get on the team against Joe Biden in the general election no matter how they may feel about Trump. Even candidates like Larry Hogan, who is running away from Trump in a blue state, are apt to find some form of modus vivendi with the rest of the party. I’m well past the point of expecting anyone in electoral politics to maintain the sort of holdout position that is the luxury of those of us who are paid to speak our minds rather than to represent voters.

Was it really a surprise or a missed opportunity for Haley to fold her cards without getting anything in return? You might think she was in a strong position: 4.3 million people, one in five Republican primary voters, have cast their ballots for her. Even in the past month, with Haley out of the running and the race decided, she cleared 20 percent of the vote in Indiana and Maryland, and won 18 percent in Nebraska and 16.5 percent in electorally crucial Pennsylvania. 157,000 Haley voters in Pennsylvania could easily hold the balance of the national election, in a state Trump won by 44,000 votes in 2016 and lost by 88,000 in 2020, and where he currently leads Biden 47.7 percent to 45.6 percent in the RealClearPolitics poll average. Trump may lead in polls across the nation, but his advantages in May are by no means secure enough to start unpacking the Andrew Jackson painting for the Oval Office.

But the problem is: What would Haley ask for? Back in February, I warned that Haley’s campaign was strangely allergic to running on principle as a movement candidate in the model of Bernie Sanders, Steve Forbes, Pat Buchanan, or Jesse Jackson. Those candidates built their support around particular issues, themes, and constituencies, which equipped them to keep the movement going even once they clearly had no chance of being the nominee themselves. Haley, while she has appealed to a distinct ideological and cultural tribe within the GOP, ran largely on the personal differences between herself and Trump. Her message was “I’m a better candidate than Trump.” But once the choice of Haley over Trump as the candidate is off the table, there turns out to be little that Haley actually wanted from Trump. Running to win rather than as a movement candidate is an entirely respectable way to run for president — it’s also how Ron DeSantis ran his campaign — but the downside is that it leaves you unprepared to make demands when you lose. If Haley voters want Trump to reach out to them, they won’t have any help from their standard-bearer in getting him to do so.