Nikki Haley as Trump’s VP? She doesn’t reject idea, says they ‘worked well together’
While campaigning in New Hampshire, Nikki Haley refused to reject the idea of becoming former President Donald Trump’s running mate in 2024.
During a town hall in Lebanon on Dec. 28, an attendee asked the former South Carolina governor, “Would you be able to say categorically that you will not accept being Trump’s vice president?”
“I could say to you what you want to hear,” Haley responded, according to CNN video footage. “But I’m going to continue to tell you my truth…”
“President Trump and I worked well together. Why? Because I told him the truth,” she added. Haley served in Trump’s administration for two years as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
While she did leave the door open to a possible Trump-Haley ticket, she reaffirmed that she has every intention of winning the Republican nomination for president.
“If you want to talk about vice president, I will tell you this now,” she said. “I’ve said it before, I don’t play for second, I’ve never played for second. I’m not gonna start now.”
Trump, the far and away leading contender for the GOP nomination, is also open to the possibility of combining forces with Haley, who has gained momentum in recent months, according to Politico.
“What do you think of Nikki?” Trump reportedly asked people outside his campaign, according to the outlet, citing three individuals aware of the conversations.
But some people close to the former president, including his son, are loath to see him bring Haley in.
“I would go to great lengths to make sure that that doesn’t happen,” Donald Trump Jr. told Newsmax in late December.
“She’s a puppet of the establishment in Washington, D.C.,” he added. “She’s the new favorite candidate of the billionaire class — no different than academia and Harvard.”
Despite their openness to sharing a ticket, the two candidates have traded barbs in recent months.
Trump, in a Dec. 22 post on Truth Social, dismissed Haley’s improved New Hampshire poll numbers and called her “birdbrain,” a nickname he has used before.
In an Oct. 11 post on X, Haley posted a photo of a birdcage supposedly left outside her hotel room with a sign saying “From: Trump campaign.” She called the message “pathetic.”
More recently, in response to Haley’s recent comments on the Civil War — in which she neglected to mention slavery as a cause — the Trump-supporting MAGA Pac said in a statement shared with The Hill, “Haley is clearly not ready for primetime.”
Aside from Haley, there are a number of Republican officials who have signaled they are open to serving as Trump’s running mate, including South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, according to The Hill.
Noem, along with presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, are the current betting favorites to become Trump’s vice presidential pick, according to Oddschecker, an online betting site.
This story was originally published December 29, 2023 at 11:46 AM with the headline "Nikki Haley as Trump’s VP? She doesn’t reject idea, says they ‘worked well together’."