Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich ripped GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Tuesday after losing her fourth primary race to former president Donald Trump.
Gingrich appeared on “Hannity” to discuss the results of Michigan’s GOP primary race, in which Trump beat Haley by nearly 38 points, according to The Associated Press (AP). Fox host Sean Hannity questioned the former House Speaker on his thoughts on why Haley is remaining in the race and if she is “forcing” Trump to spend campaign money due to competing against her.
While Gingrich noted that he did not believe Haley’s prolonged stay is forcing Trump to “spend anything,” the former House Speaker called out the theory for why the presidential candidate is sticking around after her loss. (RELATED: Massive Protest Vote Sucks The Wind Out Of Biden’s Michigan Primary Victory)
“Well first of all I don’t think she is going to force President Trump to spend anything because he’s going to beat her in every single primary in the country. That’s just going to happen. Second, the longer she stays in, the more she will alienate Republicans. This theory that she’s hanging around in case something happens to Trump, so she can then be the choice. No MAGA Republican, no Trump delegate is ever going to pick Nikki Haley. They will pick any of the dozen or 50 Republicans who are acceptable, but they aren’t going to pick her,” Gingrich stated.
“And you saw that in Nevada, where she lost by 2-1 by none of these candidates. I mean when none of these candidates beat you by 2-1, there’s a hint that maybe you’re in the wrong game this year. I hope she’ll drop out, I hope she’ll become part of the effort to beat Joe Biden. I do not think it’s helpful to have her out there saying nasty things about the Republican nominee. And as far as I’m concerned, Donald Trump tonight is the Republican nominee. This is over. The issue is to focus on the general election and why Trump would be a dramatically better president in 2025 than Joe Biden.”
Trump’s recent win in the Michigan primary is followed by double-digit leads in the races from Iowa, New Hampshire, and notably Haley’s home state of South Carolina. While a GOP primary race was additionally held for Nevada at the beginning of February, Haley chose to run in the state’s race alone versus competing against Trump in the GOP-run caucus. However, even without running against candidates, 63.3% of Nevada voters chose to vote for the “None of These Candidates” option, leaving Haley with just 30.6% of the vote, AP results showed.
As Trump is projected to be the GOP nominee for the 2024 general election, early polls indicated that in a race between the former president and President Joe Biden, Trump could hypothetically win by roughly 4 points. A poll conducted by Emerson College Polling/The Hill surveyed 1,000 registered voters this week, in which 45% voted for Trump compared to 42% for Biden.