Here’s reality: as per a very recent Fox News voter analysis of the New Hampshire republican primary voters, 35% of Republicans said they would not vote for Donald Trump. With these numbers, although the MAGA ex-president can easily win a primary election to become the republican party’s presidential candidate, he can’t win in a general election where a candidate requires at least 90% to support him.

In my opinion, Nikki Hailey should be buoyed by all the political pressure being thrown her way by party insiders in an attempt to discourage her from continuing to compete for the prize of becoming the next US president against the 77-year-old republican MAGA ex-president who acts out the most when he’s fearful and he’s very afraid.

And so, what are all the naysayers worried about in having the ex-president face off with a young, accomplished, attractive, competent opponent who’s not an apologist for Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin in his war with Ukraine; who wouldn’t be holding up funds going to Ukraine to protect its sovereignty from Russia’s aggression; who wouldn’t be stopping in its tracks, the congressional passage of a conservative border control bill because the ex-president wants to use the US immigration problems as a campaign issue?

I’m betting that there are some military leaders from the 8 military bases located in SC who would be willing to help her succeed against the ex-president who openly hero worships leaders like Victor Orben of Hungary, Xi Jinping of China, Kim Jong-Un of N Korea, Vladimir Putin of Russia etc., and who describes US missile defense systems as “Ding, Ding, Ding, Boom Whoosh! Let’s not forget how the ex-president took home highly classified material from the White House that any military soldier would be court-martialed if he/ she did likewise.

So, as long as smart big money donors continue to bet on her, Nikki Hailey has absolutely no good reason to bow out anytime soon.

Here’s a message from Liz Cheney encouraging Nikki Haley to stay in the race.

As per the January 25, 2024 New York Times report, “Cheney Says Haley Should Stay in G.O.P. Primary Through Super Tuesday” by Alyce McFadden:

“Former Representative Liz Cheney urged Nikki Haley to stay in the Republican primary race through Super Tuesday in an episode of “Pod Save America” that will be released on Friday. Ms. Cheney, an outspoken critic of former President Donald J. Trump, called his candidacy an “existential threat” to the nation and commended Ms. Haley for running against him, despite her long odds.”

“We need to make sure that we’re challenging him and working to defeat him at every step of the way. And right now, Nikki Haley is in this fight, and I think she ought to stay in it,” Ms. Cheney said, according to a transcript of the interview shared with The NY Times.”

“She dismissed the notion that Mr. Trump has all but clinched his party’s nomination and criticized Ronna McDaniel, the chair of the Republican National Committee, for urging Republicans to consolidate support behind Mr. Trump after his victory in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.”

“That’s inappropriate, to say the least, for the chairperson of the R.N.C. to be asserting that the primary’s over when it’s not,” Ms. Cheney said.”

Anyway, why wait for a criminal conviction to stick against the ex-president when there’s the very real probability that the very confused MAGA ex-president will blow it with more public exposures like in a debate with Nikki Haley? It’s just a matter of time as his competent campaign staff can’t keep him muzzled forever.

The ex-president has made multiple recent gaffes that makes his opponent President Biden look better and better, despite his age.

The following January 23, 2024 Washington Post analysis by Dana Milbank, “Donald Trump is very confused” lists just some of the ex-president’s recent flubs:

The following excerpts from Wall Street articles ditto my thinking that Nikki Haley should stick it out until “Super Tuesday.”

As per the January 25, 2024 Wall Street article via MSN by Peggy Noonan, “Nikki Haley Should Go for Broke:”

“This shouldn’t even be a question.”

“A great party is trying to produce its presidential nominee. Donald Trump is the leader in the contest so far and looks likely to be the victor. But the cycle has just started (61 delegates allocated, 2,368 to go) and the party isn’t united, it’s split, roughly 50/50 pro-Trump and not.”

“Nikki Haley is right to stay in and fight. No one has the right to shut her down. She’s stumping in her home state, South Carolina, and getting a lot of advice. ”

“For useful advice I turned to my friend Landon Parvin, savant and veteran Washington speechwriter, who tore himself away from work to offer practical thoughts.”

“Go for broke, Landon said; there’s only one subject now and it’s Mr. Trump. Go at him, make it new. “Feel the freedom of your situation,” he says to Ms. Haley. “Self-respect is at issue. You’re not slinking off under pressure. There is something glorious about a last stand.”

“You alone now carry the banner. Speak up for all the Republicans who have been demeaned, diminished and threatened by Trump. He can no longer hurt you. Pick up the sword. You don’t have to give Shakespeare’s band-of-brothers speech but live it!”

“Lean into being a woman. “The woman card is untapped by Republican women because they don’t like identity politics.” But the suburbs will appreciate it, and Mr. Trump is going after you as a woman, insulting how you present yourself, calling you “birdbrain.” “You were once in the Little Miss Bamberg, S.C., pageant and sang ‘This Land Is Your Land.’ That’s a beautiful thing for the daughter of immigrants. Trump desecrates such images, this man who owned the Miss USA pageant and grabbed women by certain parts. This is bigger than you. Speak up for Republican women.”

“It’s fine to point out that Mr. Trump has lost a step but be careful. “Do it with humor or you’ll look like you want to stand on his ventilator tube.”

“But the issue is Mr. Trump’s nature. Start, Landon says, with something like this: “Remember when Trump said he could shoot somebody in the middle of Fifth Avenue and people would still vote for him? Well, if he would try to shoot somebody in the middle of the street here in South Carolina, we would return fire. And that is what I intend to do today.”

“Don’t attack with anger, just quote the terrible, terrible things he says about specific people and larger groups. It is not right what he says, and on some level most Trump supporters know it. Make fun of his self-importance and self-regard. Take on the Great Pumpkin far away in Mar-a-Lago. Show that he’s out of control, that he has no rails, no boundaries. Quote the past few days’ overnight rants on social media. Let the audience draw the conclusion about whether this man should be returned to the presidency.” Quote his former chiefs of staff and cabinet secretaries who say he has no business in the Oval Office. “Let that settle in.”

“More: “Don’t be strident, don’t strain your voice, don’t try too hard. Don’t yell at Trump, be sad for him.”

“Let me talk about stereotypes, as unfair as they are, because some voters think in them. You are the Asian girl in the front of the class with her hand up. You’re smart, you did the work. Trump is the blond jock in the back, cracking jokes and popping gum. Gently smack that gum out of his mouth. Have some fun going after him, not in a Chris Christie perturbed way but as someone who seems to enjoy the give and take of battle.”

“Another thought: Admit you are not as entertaining or maybe exciting as he is, but that’s OK, you’re running not to entertain but to lead. A rabid squirrel in a chemistry lab is exciting to watch but can do a lot of damage. You believe in old-fashioned values like professionalism and capability.  “Doing the real job of the presidency so that the American people benefit actually is exciting.” Perhaps one day when she worked for Mr. Trump, she saw the blubbery self-pity kick in; perhaps she wanted to shake him by the shoulders and say snap out of it, we have a country to save.”

“Mr. Trump is currently in a rage cycle and Ms. Haley is likely expecting a new nickname—Tricky Nikki, whatever. But nothing is below Mr. Trump, and he may go more off-color than that. Staff can respond, but a reporter will catch Ms. Haley going into an event and demand reaction. Landon suggests, in a confiding tone, “Yes. I heard Stormy Daniels gave him that.”

“Don’t be afraid of pulling the heart strings. You’re home in the state that made you. The people you’re talking to are your fellow Republicans. Whatever they decide you’ll always remember you were a child there, a student, a young bride. You are of them. Landon likes “When I walk into that old White House, I will be thinking of one of our state mottos, ‘While I breathe.’ While I breathe, I’ll be thanking you for how you prepared me for this moment.”

“You can’t go wrong with gratitude, and grace for that matter, which are concepts her opponent does not grasp.”

“Landon once told me of a difference between writing for women in public life and for men. Men like to tell personal and emotional stories because they think it means they’re sensitive. Women are more likely to fear it will make them look weak.”

“His advice: “Slow down your pace, soften your voice, tell an honest story. That is what people want, not the grandiosity of the man you are running against.”

“Donald Trump has decided the way to unite the GOP, after his 54% to 43% victory in New Hampshire, is to purge Republicans who are still skeptical of him. Retribution is at the top of his mind, as he said when launching his campaign. Yet this politics of subtraction will make it harder to beat President Biden.”

“Many of Nikki Haley’s supporters, including longtime Republicans, aren’t persuaded that Mr. Trump deserves a second term. In New Hampshire this week, “three-quarters (77%) of Haley voters said they would not vote for Trump,” according to a Fox News survey of 2,000 people. This is a symptom of Mr. Trump’s political weakness, not its cause.”

“Instead, he wants to banish them. “Nikki ‘Birdbrain’ Haley is very bad for the Republican Party and, indeed, our Country,” Mr. Trump said Wednesday on his social-media site. “Anybody that makes a ‘Contribution’ to Birdbrain, from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp. We don’t want them and will not accept them.”

“Ms. Haley’s donors aren’t naifs and presumably won’t be intimidated from exercising their constitutional rights. But Mr. Trump’s threat reveals once again where his heart is. When his aides tell him that he should disavow the notion of payback, he does it. Then he reverts to form.”

“If Mr. Trump and other MAGA figures spend the coming months trying to purify the GOP of everyone who won’t kiss his ring, it will be a high act of self-sabotage.”