On Tuesday night, the voters of New Hampshire delivered their verdict in the first-in-the-nation primary, and the result was a clear victory for former President Donald Trump.
The result gives Trump formidable wins in the nation’s first two nominating contests and will allow him to coast to the Republican nomination and a rematch with President Joe Biden in the general election.
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But despite the result, there was former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley rushing to the podium early in the night to try to channel the same kind of energy espoused by Bill Clinton in his famous “comeback kid” speech following the 1992 New Hampshire primary, which he lost.
“New Hampshire is first in the nation. It is not last in the nation,” Haley said in her election night speech. “This race is far from over. There are dozens of states left to go. The next one is my sweet state of South Carolina.”
The most up-to-date results have Haley trailing Trump by roughly 10 points in what was supposed to be the state most amenable to her campaign’s message. Up next is the Nevada caucuses, in which Trump is running unopposed, and Haley’s home state of South Carolina, where she is trailing Trump in the polls by 30 points.
There remains no path for Haley to win the nomination, and there never was. By the time Trump and Haley square off in South Carolina, the former president will have three times as many delegates as Haley. To put the cherry on top, Trump is likely to get all 50 delegates from South Carolina because of the way delegates are awarded there.
With no path forward to win the nomination, it begs the question: Why is Haley still in the race? She is burning through millions of dollars in campaign donations and has nothing to show for it.
The primary is over. Haley needs to drop out and put this process to bed so that the Republican Party can unify behind its presumptive nominee, Donald Trump. There will not be another primary contest in which Haley will be able to find a more appealing electorate than the one she courted in New Hampshire.
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The fact is that Republican voters do not want the brand of politics Haley brings to the table. She is running to secure voters in a party that does not exist. One only has to see how she overperformed in New Hampshire’s highly educated college towns while grossly underperforming in the rural working-class precincts that more accurately reflect the Republican base.
Haley needs to ask herself if she is really running for the good of the country and the Republican Party or if she is running for her ego.