Itās long been rumored that, if Donald Trump wins the GOP presidential nomination for a third time, heāll pick a woman as his running mate. If he does, donāt expect that woman to be one of his primary opponents ā at least if Donald Trump Jr. has anything to say about it.
In an interview with Newsmax, Trump Jr. said heād āgo to great lengthsā to ensure former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley would stay off the ticket, arguing that her tendencies toward globalism and American interventionism in foreign conflicts would make her untenable.
This is the second interview Trump Jr. has given this month in which he slagged Haley as a puppet of the establishment meant to end his fatherās career.
In the latest salvo in Haleyās direction, which came during an interview with Eric Bolling on the day after Christmas, Trump Jr. said that he āwouldnāt have herā as a veep candidate.
āNikki Haley wants never-ending wars,ā Trump Jr. said.
āSheās a puppet of the establishment in Washington, D.C. Sheās the new favorite candidate of the billionaire class because they want control ā no different than academia and Harvard and using their billions to exercise influence.ā
āShe is now the preferred candidate,ā he added.
This comes after an interview with Breitbart earlier this month, after the last Republican primary debate, in which Trump Jr. said Vivek Ramaswamy ābasically ended Nikki Haleyās political career.ā
āThe same people that used to support DeSantis because they thought he was the guy to take out Trump, so that they can have their dancing monkey in the White House ā someone who needs them, who needs their dollars ā they flipped over to Nikki Haley, and theyāre trying to make that the last hope, so that they can have that kind of control,ā he said.
āItās really sad because thatās what this is about.ā
Others in Trumpās orbit have criticized Haley for the same reasons ā including former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who said in an interview with conservative personality Tim Pool that heād actively campaign against a Trump-Haley ticket.
āI would not only not vote for that ticket, I would advocate against it as strongly as I could,ā Carlson said earlier this week. āThatās just poison.ā
He went on to say that Haley was āsomeone whoās actively opposed to the interests of the country I grew up in, who endorsed the BLM riots and who is not left but is neoliberal in the darkest, most ā¦ nihilistic way and has no real popular support, is a creature of the oligarchs. So yeah, that would be ā that would be reason to oppose the ticket.ā
However, there are those in Trumpās orbit who support the former South Carolina governor ā namely his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, who said that Haleyās nomination was in the ānever say neverā zone:
There is, of course, a better argument against Nikki Haley than interventionism, globalism or moderate-ism, assuming Donald Trump is the nominee. For the most part, the 2024 Republican presidential race is a referendum on Trump and being in it necessarily implies youāre voting no on the four years of his presidency, for whatever reason.
Vivek Ramaswamy has come the closest to moving away from this, arguing that, while Trumpās presidency was productive, he antagonizes a wide swath of undecided voters. Pretty much everyone else has either made it clear ā albeit not in direct terms, unless youāre a fringe contender like Chris Christie or Asa Hutchinson ā that their candidacy would reject a Trump-ist populism and take the country in a different direction.
If she wins the nomination on that premise, great. More power to her. Vox populi, vox elephanti. However, if one runs on that premise ā unless itās much,Ā much closer than polls at the moment indicate ā one shouldnāt turn around and expect to get the vice presidential nomination. It wouldnāt be prudent for either personās political future. And, not only that, itād make for some uncomfortable back-and-forths with the first son should a Trump-Haley ticket manage to retake the White House.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.