Wait, wasn’t the whole point that she knew there was no way to win on her own, but she’d stay in the race until the last possible minute in case some magical hand of the law finally came down on Trump?
Shame, I had a morsel of respect for that strategy, though I guess it was never really viable since Trump isn’t subject to the law like the rest of us.
I think that moment is now since the ruling that trump can’t be taken off the ballot.
Yeah good point. Ugh this is grim.
She will still have votes, so she will be the de facto nominee if Trump were to somehow go to jail, or die.
I honestly think it’s only been part of it. Yes, be there as an active campaigner if he somehow got removed before her money dried up. However, I also think it was important to be the last option standing and to have a few delegates banked before bowing out. No one ever literally drops out of these races; rather, they “suspend their campaigns.” So yeah, she has no more backing; there is no one to pay for more ads or venues or plane tickets, but now if Trump drops dead or gets convicted before November, Haley can present herself as the reasonable backup even in the face of the MAGA-Light Brigade she outlasted.
Then there’s the medium to long term, where I think she’s angling to be the face of the non-Trump GOP, and gambling that “her” side will cycle back into favor. Things are tight. The country is split, and if Trump wins his version of particularly stupid and vicious right-wing populism (i.e. “Fascism”) will remain ascendant in the party. If he loses, though, his aging base will shrink more, and even the attitude bros and pistol-packin’ mamas who find him refreshing somehow will have to choose between literal rebellion and stepping away from a “loser” who is also aging and so far doesn’t seem to have a political heir lined up who has anything like his specific grifter charm.
Then, finally, there’s the “eat shit” backup plan. There will always be an opportunity to get back into the fringes of Trump World by publicly groveling. Nothing that asshole likes more than to see a nominally proud, telegenic person kiss his ass on TV.
I think that idea died when the Kochs pulled their funding.
You probably knew this already but one of the brothers is dead, something that forces a grim smile out of me through my ground-down teeth and i thought it bore repeating
