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During Nikki Haley’s Republican presidential campaign, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations had some rather undiplomatic things to say about her principal primary rival. Donald Trump has grown "more unstable and unhinged,” she told an audience in February.
Around the same time, after the former president disrespected the military again, Haley added, “he’s not qualified to be the President of the United States.”
Three months later, the South Carolina Republican did exactly what many expected her to do: NBC News reported:
Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley said Wednesday that she’s planning to vote for former President Donald Trump in November, despite her criticism of him during the campaign for the GOP presidential nomination. Haley made her first public appearance since dropping out of the presidential race with a speech on national security and foreign policy at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C.
It was difficult to find the developments shocking. Haley appears to want a future in Republican politics; Trump is the dominant figure in her party; so it stood to reason that she throw her support behind the GOP’s presumptive nominee.
But let’s not lose sight of the fact that Haley had a principled path. She simply chose not to take it.
Plenty of prominent Republican voices with national profiles — former Rep. Liz Cheney, former Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Mitt Romney, et al. — have said they won’t support Trump’s 2024 candidacy. Mike Pence served as Trump’s vice president for four years, and he publicly declared that he won’t vote for his party’s presumptive nominee, either.
Others in the party, such as former White House National Security Advisor John Bolton and former House Speaker Paul Ryan, have said they’ll write in the name of a different Republican on their 2024 ballot.
Haley could’ve joined them. Alternatively, she could’ve demurred in response to questions about her plans for the fall. Instead, the former ambassador wanted it to be known that Trump — the “unstable and unhinged” one — has her support.
Last year, after Trump mocked House Majority Whip Tom Emmer and derailed the Minnesotan’s bid for House speaker, Emmer would’ve been justified in holding a grudge. Instead, he went to great lengths to curry favor with the former president, offering Trump sycophantic support.
“They always bend the knee,” Trump said soon after.
This came to mind watching Haley, who bent the knee, even when she didn’t have to.