Former President Donald Trump criticized his former spokeswoman, Kayleigh McEnany, after she suggested he focus on the general election and unite the party, rather than attacking Nikki Haley.
McEnany pointed out that Trump should focus on winning over independents, as Haley won a significant portion of them.
She also mentioned that Haley’s argument is to unite the party and win independents, possibly as a play for the vice presidential nomination.
As Trump and his allies are saying, time to unite the party and the country … pic.twitter.com/2W0CMxUJ5K
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) January 24, 2024
“I do not require any guidance from RINO Kayleigh McEnany on Fox,” Trump wrote.
“Just had a GIANT VICTORY over a badly failing candidate, ‘Birdbrain,’ and she’s telling me what I can do better. Save your advice for Nikki!” he said.
“When you look at the Republican Party, seven in ten Nikki Haley voters said, ‘I would not vote for Trump.’ There was a Des Moines Register poll, 43% said, ‘No, I wouldn’t vote for Trump,’” McEnany said.
“If I’m Trump, I sit back and I exclusively focus on the general election. I take the posture of a presumptive nominee. I focus on, number one, uniting the party, and number two, winning the independents, which Nikki Haley won 55-39%. That’s what I would do.”
Kayleigh’s analysis is right, and Trump isn’t winning over the voters he needs to by attacking her for simply pointing out the math. pic.twitter.com/gEWMD3svOz
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) January 24, 2024
“Nikki Haley, I mean, the closest margin is 30% in the states ahead. For all intents and purposes, he’s the presumptive nominee,” she added.
“Okay, so explain this to me. She just probably lost by 10-12, she is staying in, possibly beyond South Carolina, it seems. What does that do to the Republican Party?” Jesse Watters asked.
“Look, she has said that she will endorse the nominee. And right now, for all intents and purposes, the presumptive nominee is Donald J. Trump. Look, he just won Iowa and New Hampshire. No one’s done that since going back to 1976. The only person, I believe, to ever win New Hampshire three times, he’s currently pulling in the majority of support. But she’s making the argument, ‘I was at 2%. Now look at me, I’m at 46%. We’ll see where that lands. I’m staring down Super Tuesday, where 11 of the 16 states allow independents to vote,” McEnany said.
“But as Nate Cohn at The New York Times pointed out, if you look at each and every state to come, in the latest polling in each and every state, there is not one state that has the latest poll that has Donald Trump closer than 30% margin. So she is staring down a nightmare of a map, but she’s making the case, ‘I can win.’ In fact, then in her memo, ‘DO Republicans WANT TO WIN?’ All caps. Problem, just quickly: She made that argument on airwaves here in New Hampshire. It didn’t resonate. What landed was Trump’s message on immigration and Social Security,” she added.
“How can you say that, ‘The guy who is beating me and will beat me for the rest of the primary will lose the general election?’ And then the loser of the Republican primary, Nikki Haley, will win the general election? Because that’s her argument and I don’t understand it. Do you?” Watters asked.
“So here’s the case she’s making. ‘President Trump, I would go home tonight, I would go to my victory party, I’d celebrate, I’ve made history again, but then I would go home and I’d look under the hood.’ And when you look under the hood of our Fox News voter analysis data, you will find that 32% of Republicans say, ‘We won’t vote for Trump.’ ‘I’ve got to unite the party,’ that’s the argument Nikki Haley is making,” McEnany said.
“And number two, I would look, Nikki Haley won independents, according to Fox News voter analysis 59-33. So I go home if I’m Trump, I celebrate, and then I say, ‘I’ve got to unite this party and win independents. That’s how I beat Biden,’” McEnany added.
“I think — I must say, I know she says she’s not running for second. I think this is a play for the vice presidential nomination. We must unite the Republican Party. I think she’s playing for that.”
The exchange has highlighted the ongoing tension within the Republican Party as the 2024 election approaches.
