Trump told Haley supporters to f--- off. His plan seems to be working
Following Donald Trump’s example is typically a very bad idea. This is the same guy who stared at an eclipse, thought it might be a good idea to inject disinfectant, and insists on flushing toilets 10 to 15 times, even though the government recommends stolen top secret nuclear documents be flushed no more than three times in order to conserve water. And while listening to Trump is equally as bad—Truth Social investors are discovering that now—it might, ironically, end up saving the country. You may recall when several starry-eyed Republicans ran for president based largely on the notion that a guy with a fraudulent business who’d literally attempted to end America and faced dozens of felony charges might have some vulnerabilities in the general election. Well, one of those candidates—former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley—stuck around a bit longer than Trump would have liked and it’s still having an impact. RELATED STORY: Biden campaign reminds Haley voters Trump doesn't want them Writing on Truth Social in January, Trump stated, “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, because we Put America First, and ALWAYS WILL!” In other words, Trump’s GOP is a big-tent party, so long as no one in that tent has girl cooties. And if referring to his female opponent as “Birdbrain” wasn’t quite alienating enough, Trump made clear that he would brutally banish anyone who liked Haley enough to send her so much as a ha’penny. Well, for once it looks like Trump’s meticulously crafted plan is working. People keep voting for Haley, even though she dropped out of the race more than a month and a half ago. Looks like convincing people to go away because you hate them is a much easier lift than making a casino profitable. On Tuesday night in the GOP’s closed Pennsylvania primary, Haley got more than 155,000 votes, or roughly 16.6% of the total. This is a pretty significant number for someone who’s no longer campaigning, and whose opponent is a universally known figure running as a quasi-incumbent. The Hill reports that Haley got close to 20% in several Pennsylvania counties. And this could be reason for concern with “polling average of the state from Decision Desk HQ/The Hill has Trump ahead of President Biden in the state by just 0.4 percent, meaning every vote may have added importance there compared to many other states.” And it’s not just in Pennsylvania. According to The Hill Haley “received more than 77,000 votes in the Georgia primary in March in March a few days after she dropped out, more than 150,000 votes, or almost 20 percent, in the Washington primary and more than 110,000 votes in the Arizona primary.” Clearly, Trump remains a polarizing figure within the GOP. And since telling Haley supporters to go screw, they’ve pretty much obeyed. The good news for Trump is that, as a wannabe dictator, he demands slavish obedience to all his dictates—and people are falling in line. The bad news for Trump is that if people actually listen to him, it could cost him the election. As Washington Post senior political reporter Aaron Blake notes, the results in closed GOP-only primaries since Haley dropped out appear to show her momentum has barely slowed. Percentages voting against Trump in closed (i.e. GOP-only) primaries/caucuses: 3/2 Idaho 15% 3/5 Okla. 18% 3/5 Tennessee 19.5% 3/5 Utah 44% (Haley drops out) 3/19 Florida 19% 3/19 Kansas 24.5% 4/2 Conn. 22% 4/2 N.Y. 18% 4/23 Pennsylvania 16.5%— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) April 24, 2024 Of course, it’s been clear since at least the Iowa caucuses that Trump faces an uphill climb with many of the old-guard Republicans he’s preemptively deemed unworthy of MAGA. For instance, an NBC News/Des Moines Register poll taken just before the Iowa caucuses found that fully 43% of Haley voters said they’d vote for President Biden in November, as opposed to 23% who said they’d vote for Trump. Meanwhile, despite organized protest votes over Biden’s handling of the Israel-Gaza situation, the president won the Pennsylvania primary with 93.1% of the vote to Dean Phillips’ 6.9%. And while they’re still counting, as of this writing Biden has received around 929,000 votes to Trump’s 789,000. In other words, Biden got roughly 140,000 more votes than Trump in a swing state that he won in 2020 by a narrow 81,000-vote margin. And while primary participants who cast protest votes often come home to their party in the general, it sure sounds like some of these Haley voters are dug in. Salon: Haley voters told The Philadelphia Inquirer that they were frustrated with their options. "I don't like [Trump]," said Eric Miller, a 2020 Biden voter who plans on supporting the Democratic nominee again. "I don't think he was a valid president. I think he's a danger to our democracy." Another Haley voter, Jeffrey Gladstein, said he voted for Trump in 2020 but probably would n
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Following Donald Trump’s example is typically a very bad idea. This is the same guy who stared at an eclipse, thought it might be a good idea to inject disinfectant, and insists on flushing toilets 10 to 15 times, even though the government recommends stolen top secret nuclear documents be flushed no more than three times in order to conserve water.
And while listening to Trump is equally as bad—Truth Social investors are discovering that now—it might, ironically, end up saving the country.
You may recall when several starry-eyed Republicans ran for president based largely on the notion that a guy with a fraudulent business who’d literally attempted to end America and faced dozens of felony charges might have some vulnerabilities in the general election. Well, one of those candidates—former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley—stuck around a bit longer than Trump would have liked and it’s still having an impact.
RELATED STORY: Biden campaign reminds Haley voters Trump doesn't want them
Writing on Truth Social in January, Trump stated, “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, because we Put America First, and ALWAYS WILL!”
In other words, Trump’s GOP is a big-tent party, so long as no one in that tent has girl cooties. And if referring to his female opponent as “Birdbrain” wasn’t quite alienating enough, Trump made clear that he would brutally banish anyone who liked Haley enough to send her so much as a ha’penny.
Well, for once it looks like Trump’s meticulously crafted plan is working. People keep voting for Haley, even though she dropped out of the race more than a month and a half ago. Looks like convincing people to go away because you hate them is a much easier lift than making a casino profitable.
On Tuesday night in the GOP’s closed Pennsylvania primary, Haley got more than 155,000 votes, or roughly 16.6% of the total. This is a pretty significant number for someone who’s no longer campaigning, and whose opponent is a universally known figure running as a quasi-incumbent.
The Hill reports that Haley got close to 20% in several Pennsylvania counties. And this could be reason for concern with “polling average of the state from Decision Desk HQ/The Hill has Trump ahead of President Biden in the state by just 0.4 percent, meaning every vote may have added importance there compared to many other states.”
And it’s not just in Pennsylvania. According to The Hill Haley “received more than 77,000 votes in the Georgia primary in March in March a few days after she dropped out, more than 150,000 votes, or almost 20 percent, in the Washington primary and more than 110,000 votes in the Arizona primary.”
Clearly, Trump remains a polarizing figure within the GOP. And since telling Haley supporters to go screw, they’ve pretty much obeyed. The good news for Trump is that, as a wannabe dictator, he demands slavish obedience to all his dictates—and people are falling in line. The bad news for Trump is that if people actually listen to him, it could cost him the election.
As Washington Post senior political reporter Aaron Blake notes, the results in closed GOP-only primaries since Haley dropped out appear to show her momentum has barely slowed.
Of course, it’s been clear since at least the Iowa caucuses that Trump faces an uphill climb with many of the old-guard Republicans he’s preemptively deemed unworthy of MAGA. For instance, an NBC News/Des Moines Register poll taken just before the Iowa caucuses found that fully 43% of Haley voters said they’d vote for President Biden in November, as opposed to 23% who said they’d vote for Trump. Meanwhile, despite organized protest votes over Biden’s handling of the Israel-Gaza situation, the president won the Pennsylvania primary with 93.1% of the vote to Dean Phillips’ 6.9%. And while they’re still counting, as of this writing Biden has received around 929,000 votes to Trump’s 789,000. In other words, Biden got roughly 140,000 more votes than Trump in a swing state that he won in 2020 by a narrow 81,000-vote margin.
And while primary participants who cast protest votes often come home to their party in the general, it sure sounds like some of these Haley voters are dug in.
Haley voters told The Philadelphia Inquirer that they were frustrated with their options. "I don't like [Trump]," said Eric Miller, a 2020 Biden voter who plans on supporting the Democratic nominee again. "I don't think he was a valid president. I think he's a danger to our democracy."
Another Haley voter, Jeffrey Gladstein, said he voted for Trump in 2020 but probably would not support either candidate this cycle in wake of the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. “That was a threshold after which I cannot vote for him anymore,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Biden campaign has hit on the brilliant strategy—which somehow eluded Trump—of asking millions of people to vote for him instead of telling them to fuck off en masse.
But why acknowledge there’s a problem when you can just pretend everything’s fine?
And there you have Trump’s real strategy—don’t win elections, just say you did.
After all, that worked last time. Sort of.
RELATED STORY: Trump parties with billionaires while Biden and Bernie unite
Check out Aldous J. Pennyfarthing’s four-volume Trump-trashing compendium, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link. Campaign Action
