Nikki Haley Leans Into MAGA

As Nikki Haley gets her 2024 run started, she’s making sure to tout her MAGA credentials. Just hours after launching her campaign, Nikki Haley once again refused to name a single difference between herself and Donald Trump – not once, but TWICE. This comes as two flagrant election deniers endorse her campaign and after extremists joined her on stage in her first appearance.

Haley went on Hannity last night where she did not name a single policy difference between herself and Trump when asked twice on the show.

Newsweek: “Presidential hopeful Nikki Haley failed to give a clear answer on how her policies differ from former President Donald Trump’s while being quizzed by Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Wednesday.”

Mediaite: “‘Right now, President Trump is the only announced Republican candidate,’ Hannity said. ‘What policy differences do you have with Trump?’ Haley said she had ‘a great working relationship with him’ and dodged the question.”

Haley’s first two major endorsements both come from vocal deniers of the 2020 election results – including a congressman who called for martial law after the January 6 insurrection and a former Senate candidate who claimed Trump won the 2020 election as recently as last year.

NHJournal: “EXCLUSIVE: Bolduc to Endorse Haley At NH Campaign Stop Thursday”

CNN: “Bolduc said at an August debate in New Hampshire’s Republican primary: ‘I signed a letter with 120 other generals and admirals saying that Donald Trump won the election and, dammit, I stand by’ it.”

Fox: “Ralph Norman is the first South Carolina lawmaker to publicly back Haley’s bid for presidency. His support comes despite former President Donald Trump’s endorsement of his re-election the 2022 midterm elections and also after Norman did not vote to certify the 2020 election, in a nod to his loyalty to Trump.”

Post and Courier: “U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman is facing pressure to resign from Democrats in his South Carolina congressional district after a string of text messages revealed the Rock Hill Republican called for a military takeover in order to keep then-President Donald Trump in power after his 2020 election defeat. Norman’s idea to impose martial law, which he wrote as ‘Marshall Law,’ was sent in a text to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Jan. 17, 2021 — three days before Joe Biden was set to take office.”

At her launch event, Haley said she “still say[s]” she wants to be like John Hagee “when I grow up” – the pastor who suggested that Adolf Hitler was fulfilling God’s will. John McCain famously distanced himself from Hagee’s endorsement in 2008 because of his extreme rhetoric.

Nikki Haley: “Pastor Hagee, I still say I want to be you when I grow up.”

New York Times: “In the sermon, which is also available on the church’s Web site, Mr. Hagee said the Bible prophesied Hitler’s brutality. ‘How is God going to bring them back to the land? The answer is fishers and hunters,’ Mr. Hagee said, referring to how Jews ended up in the modern state of Israel. ‘A hunter is someone who comes with a gun and forces you. Hitler was a hunter.’”

CNN: “McCain told CNN’s Brian Todd that he rejected Hagee’s endorsement after Todd brought to his attention Hagee’s comments that Adolf Hitler had been fulfilling God’s will by hastening the desire of Jews to return to Israel in accordance with biblical prophecy.” 

NPR: “And I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.”

Washington Post: “The evangelical leader, who called the Roman Catholic Church ‘the great whore,’ has endorsed McCain.”

Reminder: As governor, Haley signed into law an extreme abortion ban that made no exceptions for rape or incest and threatened doctors with jail time for providing care for their patients. 

TIME: “The law passed the General Assembly last week and blocks women from having abortions after 19 weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Doctors who violate the law could face a fine or jail time.” 

Newsweek: “Haley described herself as ‘very pro-life; and has spent most of her political career fighting for anti-abortion legislation, including signing a law as South Carolina governor in 2016 banning the procedure in most circumstances after 19 weeks of pregnancy unless the mother’s life is at risk.”