Inside Donald Trump’s Campaigns Plan to Take Down Nikki Haley

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Nikki Haley’s decision to become the first Republican to jump into the 2024 race against Donald Trump has finally given the Trump campaign an official opponent. And even though Haley has little interest in slamming Trump, four Trump advisers told The Daily Beast they think Haley’s presidential run is more about running for vice president. Trump’s campaign appears eager to slam Haley.

With the former UN ambassador telegraphing his presidential announcement, the Trump campaign is looking to finally defeat an enemy after a sleepy first few months. Those familiar with the discussions on how to deal with Trumps first 2024 primary challenger see Haley as a weak candidate who offers the former president a chance to settle a score, as well as a chance to experiment with new tactics. .

Trump hinted at that strategy last week when he posted on Truth Social that Nikki needed to follow her heart, not her honor. He really should run!

In Haley, Trump has a weak opponent that he can easily eliminate. Polls show Haley polling about 3 percent, compared to Trump’s 48 percent. A rival that Trump can crush early like Alabama football against Austin Peay in September could allow Trump to show voters that he’s still a force in the GOP. However, there are two schools of thought about how Haley is most useful to Trump.

Some in Trumps orbit see an opportunity to bury Haley early and often, using her campaign as a crash test dummy to demonstrate Trump’s dominance for anyone willing to step in. But Haley could also be useful in splitting the Republican primary vote and allowing Trump to cruise through the primaries with his strong base of voters who are going nowhere.

However, for others, Haley’s lack of a perceived threat will allow Trump to try something akin to coalition building during the primaries.

In 2016, you go to the king, you’re going to be destroyed, an adviser who talks to Trump told The Daily Beast. In 2024, I think there will be a different kind of Trump on display. Hell be all 2016 on guys like DeSantis, but Haley, who had a respectful conversation with him? He will face him in 2024 way.

How it will look is largely predictable based on Haley’s decision to declare in 2021 that she won’t challenge him in a presidential run, only to change course after Jan. 6.

They will definitely have a nickname for him, said a source close to Trump. He had a nickname for each of his opponents in 2016, so the tactic as some of his tactics proved ineffective or people learned to confront him with naming tasks.

A recurring theme among the four Trump operatives who spoke to The Daily Beastin is that Haley is portrayed as dishonest, a flip-flopper, a war hawk, and supported by Wall Street. Another that Trump himself addressed was the allegation that Haley’s donors had ties to China.

One GOP strategist described Haley as the Carly Fiorina of 2024.

Trump will lean on his past liberal stances on Black Lives Matter, crime and immigration very weakly, said the strategist, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about private conversations with GOP operatives about Haley . He’s sure to be sporting his political flip-flops too and has vowed not to run, now that he’s entering. Basically, he paints him as just another politician who doesn’t believe in anything and just wants power.

There are many examples of Haley flip-flopping on her support for Trump.

Whenever someone criticizes him, he goes and makes a political attack back. That’s not who we are as Republicans, Haley declared in 2015. That’s not what we do.

Following the chaos at the Capitol on January 6, Haley also took aim at her former boss.

I think he’s going to find himself more and more isolated, Haley told Politico Magazine. I think he has lost any kind of political viability that he would have had.

Multiple sources close to Trump have also raised the prospect of Haleys running as an audition for a Trump vice presidential slot.

There are a large number of us who think he wants to be vice president, and if he does, it makes sense, the first source close to Trump said. So in order to show your stuff, to show your mettle that you can be a solid partner on the national stage, that’s what you do.

The race for VP will now begin, a second source close to Trump said.

Trump administration alumni have also shared that sentiment publicly.

Nikki Haley is a selfish politician. I think she’s seeing her shot, and she’s playing for VP, former Trump body man John McEntee said on a local news broadcast last week. He knew a Trump and DeSantis war was coming.

Also, former Trump White House communications associate turned failed congressional candidate Karoline Leavitt tweeted that McEntees’ assessment was not wrong.

As previously reported by The Daily Beast, there has been a move within Trumpworld to draft an informal list of possible Trump vice presidential contenders. And while all the candidates on the list including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and the failed Arizona Gov. candidate. that Kari Lake has taken to praising Trump publicly, Haley’s thinking seems to be going in the opposite direction.

A spokesman for Haley did not return a request for comment.

Trump places a premium on loyalty, one of the aforementioned sources close to Trump said, which would leave him far outside the VP talks.

Echoing sentiments expressed by operatives within Trumps circle, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell who speaks with Trump occasionally on the phone says Haley is wasting his time! Everyone thinking of running against Donald Trump should just endorse him immediately, he added.

The first source close to Trump recalled a meeting during the 2016 transition where Trump first mentioned the possibility of a Haley White House bid.

We all know around Trump that when he came for his last interview with the president to be ambassador to the United Nations, the president said, Well, this is going to set you up to run for president, Trump’s first adviser said . He said, I might be interested, but I would never run against you, Mr. President. Never.

So, does Donald Trump think he’s dishonest? Yes, he does, the source close to Trump continued. But the difference between him and DeSantis is that he’s also a runner. Donald Trump does not need to be afraid of him. He will play with her.

Another source within Trumps inner circle predicted Haley would call it quits after Iowa. But, such an estimate remains generous in Trumpworld; many others believe Haley won’t last long either.

As The New York Times reported the Trump campaign began assembling an extensive folder of opposition research against DeSantis largely filled with pro-vaccine remarks by Florida governors that Trump sources said his campaign has not put nearly the same effort toward building a Haley file.

When it comes to Trumpworld testing attacks on potential rivals, one person Trumpworld is watching is Newsmax host Greg Kelly. Kelly, a staunch Trump supporter, has released monologues in which she rails against DeSantis and recently took aim at Haley. Unlike other pro-Trump pundits who often struggle to mount Trumpian attacks, Kelly has shown a knack for it.

This is Nikki Haley, and she thinks she can be president, Kelly said of Haley last week, before calling her candidacy a big, big, big mistake. The Newsmax host posted a clip from 2021 in which Haley told a reporter that if Trump ran in 2024, she would support him.

How about that? Kelly responded after she played the clip. Shes doomed. His candidacy is doomed here. This clip. He cannot be a presidential candidate. Trump will continue sharing the Kelly monologue on Truth Social.

Others think he may not last that long, but it may be in the Trump campaign’s best interest for him not to take the plunge and at least make it to the polls in February 2024.

Anything more than five is a crowded field, one of the sources close to Trump said. If it’s a tight field, all Trump has to do is hold onto his base. And you know the Republican Party; we love a primary.

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