Fox News host Laura Ingraham breaks down where things stand in the GOP primary race the night before the standoff between former President Trump and Nikki Haley Monday on "The Ingraham Angle."
LAURA INGRAHAM: For some reason, [Nikki] Haley thinks that the right way to attract working-class Republicans and independents is to court Wall Street. The Hill is reporting that billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller, Henry Kravis, Ken Langone and Cliff Asness are reportedly planning a fundraiser for Haley, a big one on January 30th. It's going to be in New York, then. But that's not all, because after that, she'll be hitting Miami and Palm Beach to meet with wealthy donors and also go to California and Texas before the South Carolina primary, where she hopes she's going to meet more donors, according to a source.
Now, Haley's team is bragging about all this, bragging about their $24 million fourth-quarter money haul. And that's a lot of money. But it also got a third-place finish in Iowa for her, and the spending on all that adds [up].Did it really work? It's hardly impressive to me.
She's hoping an additional $4 million ad buy in South Carolina is going to ensure that she's no Jeb Bush. She's not the Jeb Bush of 2024. No way. But in this climate where the winning message is closer to power to the people, she's veering toward power to the plutocrats. It's not smart at all for either the billionaires or Governor Haley. They might as well light their money on fire at this point. Throw it off the top of the tallest building they can find, or send it to their favorite cause. I don't know, I'm trying to be creative here. Ukraine. Send it right to Zelenskyy.
Haley is finished, and prolonging the obvious is just ensuring that she has no political future. It's not really going to hurt Trump at this point. Well, maybe she has a political future if you think Liz Cheney has a bright political future.
Now, Trump didn't win because DeSantis ran a weak campaign. A lot of people are dumping on DeSantis. Trump won because the Republican base was never going to abandon him once the Biden administration decided to use the Justice Department against him. I mean, conservatives understand properly that we can never let the Democrats pick our nominee. Never. And we know that if they succeed in weaponizing the DOJ against President Trump, they're going to use the same tactics against anyone who ever really threatens their hold on power. That sort of tyranny cannot stand, and Republicans have wisely pulled together to make sure it doesn't.
Now, under these circumstances, most Republicans were not looking for an alternative in 2024. But let's not forget all those former Republicans who claim that they were appalled by the chaos of President Trump. For almost eight years, they told us that they weren't so concerned with President Trump's policies. Oh, no, they were just upset that he didn't follow the norms, that he was dangerous. Now Governor DeSantis' campaign proved that those people were actually lying, because if they really had been looking for the principled conservative they claim they wanted, they would've rallied to Governor DeSantis. But they didn't because they don't like DeSantis' policies either, or his beliefs. They want open borders. They want the U.S. to be China's equal or even maybe junior partner. And they want social conservatives to stand down. And they want war. Lots and lots of war.
So, as long as it doesn't inconvenience the CCP, that is. That's what they've always wanted. That's what they want now. Everything else they tell you is a lie. They aren't conservatives, and frankly, they're not really patriots, not least the way I think of patriots. They're not principled, and that's why they had little to no interest in supporting DeSantis, because they only support politicians they can control.
