Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley claims that former President Donald Trump “rigged” the Nevada Republican primary.
On Tuesday, by more than a 30-point margin, Haley lost the Nevada primary to “None of These Candidates,” 30.8 to 63 percent.
In other words, when given a choice between Haley and no one, Nevadans chose no one by two-to-one.
Trump was not on that ballot. He chose to stand for the Nevada Caucus instead. The caucus happens today, February 8. The state Republican party wanted nothing to do with a primary process, so Nevada’s delegates are all attached to tonight’s caucus.
Haley’s decision to ignore Nevada (she never campaigned or advertised there) was a cynical one. By not officially participating in Nevada, she could conveniently pretend that the next state after Iowa and New Hampshire was South Carolina, her home state. The only problem there is that, according to the polling, on February 24, Trump will humiliate Haley at home and then do so again the following week during Super Tuesday.
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What Haley likely didn’t count on in Nevada was Republicans willing to vote in a primary, even though their top choice was “None of These Candidates” over Haley. The resulting narrative is a brutal one for her, one Trump took full advantage of. “A bad night for Nikki Haley,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Losing by almost 30 points in Nevada to ‘None of These Candidates.’ Watch, she’ll soon claim Victory!”
Well, she didn’t claim victory, but she is trying to claim — without evidence — that the primary was a “scam” and that Trump “rigged” it.
Speaking to Fox 11 Los Angeles on Wednesday, she said, “We knew months ago that we weren’t going to spend a day or a dollar in Nevada because it wasn’t worth it. And so we didn’t even count Nevada. That wasn’t anything we were looking at.”
“Nevada — it’s such a scam,” she continued. “They were supposed to have a primary. Trump rigged it so the GOP chairman — who’s been indicted — would go and create a caucus.”
“We knew that it was rigged from the start,” Haley added. “Our focus is on South Carolina, Michigan, Super Tuesday.”
That’s pure BS.
And even if it wasn’t BS, Haley still lost by 30 points to “None of These Candidates.”
As far as the GOP choosing a caucus over a primary, how exactly is that rigging anything? The party is supposed to set the rules of its own primary. The party chairman might be a Trump pal, but what does that have to do with rigging something? Every party chair is pals with someone. So what? If she were alleging someone intended to rig the vote count, that would be different. If she were claiming she would face a set of rules different from Trump’s, that would be a scam. But that’s not what she’s saying… She’s saying it’s “rigged” and a “scam” because the party chair chose a caucus over a primary. I’m sorry, but that makes no sense. Nowhere does she make a case about how the caucus process offered Trump some sort of advantage.
And not to belabor the point, but according to Haley, the primary was the “clean” option, and she still lost the primary to “None of These Candidates.”
Nikki needs to go home and read a book about the Civil War or something…