Despite full-court press by former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley's supporters to have former President Donald Trump pick Haley as his running mate, key Trump insiders are rejecting the effort to put her on the ticket.
Led by his son, Donald Trump Jr., the younger wing of Trump supporters are warning that she is too supportive of overseas wars to accept her on the ticket of a conservative party that wants to focus on America first.
FOUR TIMES NIKKI HALEY HAS HINDERED HER PRESIDENTIAL BID
That list grew longer this week when Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake rejected Haley, who recently stumbled over a town hall question about the Civil War.
Lake called Haley a “warmonger” who is out of touch with the core Republican Party.
“I think that he would pick anybody over her,” said Lake, who appeared to rule herself out of being chosen.
“I think that she has gone over to the dark side. She's part of the warmonger movement. The Republican Party, you know, I've got a big alert to tell everybody, is no longer the party of the warmonger,” Lake said on the Charlie Kirk Show.
Trump told Just the News this week that he doesn’t have a list of vice presidential nominees drawn up, though some have said he does.
Kirk didn’t sound like a fan of Haley, telling Lake, “I know some people that were lobbying very hard the other day. I just want President Trump to come out and say decisively, ‘No, I'm not gonna pick Nikki Haley.’”
Donald Trump Jr. told NEWSMAX that he wouldn't have GOP primary candidate Nikki Haley as his father's vice president. "I would go to great lengths to make sure that that doesn't happen," he added. MORE:https://t.co/wjfyFBpzWI pic.twitter.com/95NKpzTH4n
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) December 26, 2023
Haley has been stuck between some voters who think she is too tough on Trump and others who think she is soft on him. This week, she offered to pardon the former president of any possible convictions if she becomes the president.
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Lake dropped no hints about whom the president would prefer as his running mate. “He'll pick somebody great. Whoever he picks, I'm gonna get behind and support,” she told Kirk.
Some media have said Haley is surging in Iowa and New Hampshire, which host the first caucuses and primary in the GOP presidential voting season. But she is a mile behind Trump in national polls, and Trump doesn’t consider his former U.N. ambassador a threat.