Bend the knee - or else

Nice.  Presidential.  Mature.

This week, Donald Trump ranted that no one with ties to certain Republicans who have criticized him will get jobs in the new government. The inclusion of Nikki Haley among them got attention, because after her primary against Trump, she bent the knee and obsequiously endorsed him. It didn’t help her much: Her reward is Trump’s thorough humiliation of her. We think this is really a warning to future GOP critics: Cross Trump and you risk being on the outs, with no way back in. We talked to Casey Michel, a reporter who covers lobbying and influence peddling, and he explains how Trump’s rewarding of friends and punishment of enemies are central to a bigger story: his creation of a new Trump kleptocracy that will now dominate us. Listen to this episode here. A transcript is here.

  New Republic

Did Nikki Haley really think she would be different from all the other people who experienced the Trump treatment?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

They once said something bad about him

Once again...

Sad!

And she's not even running.

I hope this is indicative of the way things will go in November.

Doesn't look good for the Orange God

And I'm assuming there are a certain number of GOP primary voters who just stayed home if they didn't want to vote for Trump.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 11:29 am:

The Georgia primary

I don't think Haley voters are the type to be ignorant of the fact she pulled out.  Also, whether they knew or not, they were voting against Trump.  Maybe he's not really doing so well.

There goes Nikki

And it's official.  We'll be repeating 2020.  As if it weren't bad enough then.

Dictator Wannabe Trump could have left when he was defeated and come back this year without the intervening chaos and violence, but no.  And if  he wins this time, we are well and truly fucked, and the best people will have to leave the country to avoid his retribution.  If he loses, there will be more chaos and violence.  So we are well and truly fucked, no matter what.

A minor consolation:

If Trump is reelected, expect Vermont to be expelled from the union and DC to be subsumed into Virginia or razed to the ground, and the capitol moved to Mar-A-Lago.

UPDATE 07:30 am:

Oh my

UPDATE 07:46 am:  

Another reason Trump wants to delay the DC January 6 insurrection trial past election day.

Is Haley looking to get booted from the GOP?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Parsing the New Hampshire primary

Trump won by a low margin of 10 points over Nikki Haley, but take a look at this chart:

I would think that what may be more worrisome - or at least as worrisome - for them is the 25% of Republicans who didn't vote for him.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Will it help her or hurt her?

At an event on Wednesday, a voter asked [Nikki] Haley: "what was the cause of the United States Civil War?"

She replied that the cause "was basically how government was going to run, the freedoms, and what people could and couldn't do."

"I think it always comes down to the role of government and what the rights of the people are," Haley continued. "And I will always stand by the fact that, I think, government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people."

After Haley gave her answer, the voter told her that it was "astonishing" that she gave an answer "without mentioning the word 'slavery.'"

  NPR

She got a lot of backlash, and that could hurt her, even as she was just pulling away from the other candidates (besides Trump). If she wants to take votes from Trump and Ramaswami, however, it will help her.

During an interview with a local radio station on Thursday, Haley addressed what happened.

"Of course the Civil War was about slavery," she said. "We know that. That's the easy part of it."

Haley explained that she was interested in talking about what lessons should be drawn from the Civil War and defended her answer to the voter.

"I know it's about slavery," she said. "I am from the South."

As South Carolina's governor, Haley ordered the confederate flag be removed from the grounds of the state capitol following the 2015 shooting of Black parishioners at a church in Charleston in 2015.

And I think her answer at the Iowa CNN town hall was meant to avoid reminding the MAGA base of that fact. What's worse, is she blamed her response on Democratic "plants".

Haley said on Thursday she thought the questioner was "definitely" planted by Democrats to trip her up.

"The same reason he didn't tell the reporters what his name was, the same reason he went and showed the guy that he was with the tweet that went up after he did it," Haley said. "We see these guys when they come in, we know what they're doing."

  CBS

Apparently she thinks she should get a town hall planted with only Republican supporters like Donald Trump gets.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 12/30/2023:  This will definitely help her.

The Republican candidate who is fast rising in the polls

Wow.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Nikki Haley in Iowa

There's so much ridiculousness about Nikki Haley, but what I want to point out here is the fact that she put on cowboy boots to talk to people in Iowa.  LOL.

That's Iowa's governor sitting with her.  Haley must have checked with the governor about what to wear.

Tucked in T-shirts, big belts, jeans, and cowboy boots.  Check. Got 'em.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Nikki Haley is not ready for prime time

Hell of a pitch:  Hey, Disney, we'll take the business, but we're not your kind of people.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Unironically, I suppose

Ageist much?

I think a better idea is term limits.  On the other hand, I suggest they ALL have to pass an IQ test.  Or at least a high school civics exam.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Nikki Haley is still a turd in a cesspool

Well, then

Former President Donald Trump this week declined to meet with Nikki Haley, his former ambassador to the United Nations and a prospective 2024 presidential candidate, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Politico first reported that Haley reached out to Trump on Wednesday to request a face-to-face meeting at his Mar-a-Lago resort. But Trump turned her down after Haley has spent recent weeks criticizing the former president for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.

  The Hill

He still has the power to humiliate. She deserves it, though. So much for her 2024 plans.

What he said

She's such a pile.  But she does have sources, so if she's calculating that it's time to distance herself from Trump, that could be a good omen.

She knows it.  We all know it.

Whack-A-Mole

First his personal account, then his official account, then his campaign account.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

Perfect, Jameel.  

I'd also like to know why "Unbelievable" gets a hashtag.