DeSantis Calls Out Haley After Failure to Endorse Trump

Republican presidential candidates Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (L) and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) participate in CNN's GOP presidential primary debate at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Jan. 10, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has criticized Nikki Haley for not endorsing former President Donald Trump as she exited the 2024 presidential race.

Republican Party candidates for the 2024 race are required to sign a loyalty pledge in order to take part in debates. The pledge required they support any person nominated by the party as the final candidate. All GOP candidates who participated in the debates, including Ms. Haley, signed it. “I signed the pledge. And you sign the pledge saying that you’re going to not take your ball and go home. And so I honored the pledge, and she’s going to have to make a decision about whether she wants to or not,” Mr. DeSantis said in a March 6 interview with Newsmax while talking about Ms. Haley’s endorsement.

“But the idea that somehow circumstances have changed, I think we all knew what we were doing when we did that. And you got to make a judgment about whether that’s meaningful to you. And so for me, I tell people, you know, if I say I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it.”

Most candidates who have withdrawn from the race now endorse President Trump. This includes Mr. DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and the governor of North Dakota Doug Burgum. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has said he will not back President Trump.

Ms. Haley withdrew from the race on Wednesday, leaving President Trump the only remaining major GOP candidate. However, she did not endorse the former president.

“I have always been a conservative Republican and supported the Republican nominee … But on this question, as she did on so many others, Margaret Thatcher provided some good advice when she said, ‘Never just follow the crowd. Always make up your own mind,’” she said in her withdrawal announcement.

“It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him. And I hope he does.” Ms. Haley’s exit came after President Trump swept all but one of the 15 states in the Super Tuesday primaries.

In a March 6 Truth Social post, President Trump claimed that much of Ms. Haley’s funding came from “Radical Left Democrats,” who also represented a portion of her voters.

He invited “all of the Haley supporters to join the greatest movement in the history of our Nation. BIDEN IS THE ENEMY, HE IS DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

Trump in 2024 Elections

With Ms. Haley out of the race, President Trump is all set to challenge President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential elections. In a March 7 Truth Social post, the former president called on President Biden to a debate on American issues “anytime, anywhere, anyplace.”

Speaking to reporters recently, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said, “the race is set. Now it will be a rematch, and we like that rematch,” referring to the Trump-Biden race in the 2020 elections. The speaker believes President Trump has an advantage in this rematch as voters can now compare the governance records of both candidates.

“We know what President Trump delivered the first two years of his administration,” he said. “By just two years, we had delivered the greatest economy in the history of the world, not just the U.S., and the reason was because we acted upon our core principles that we’ve always supported as conservatives, as Republicans.”

“We limited the size and scope of government. We cut regulation substantially. Of course, we had historic tax reform and tax cuts … House Republicans are going to work hand in hand with the new president, the 47th president, which we’re convinced will be President Donald Trump.”

Many Americans predict President Trump will win the 2024 race. A poll conducted by The Economist and YouGov last month asked respondents who they think will win the upcoming elections.

While 45 percent said they expect President Trump to win his second term, only 34 percent expressed confidence in President Biden winning this time around. Both white and Hispanic respondents backed President Trump to win the race, while black respondents saw President Biden as the winner.

When asked whether Joe Biden was a strong or weak leader, 60 percent of respondents said he was “very” or “somewhat” weak.

Meanwhile, President Trump is facing attempts to debar him from elections. The Colorado Supreme Court had earlier deemed him an ineligible candidate for allegedly being involved in an insurrection related to the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, thus disqualifying him from the state ballot.

However, on March 4, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of President Trump. “Responsibility for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates rests with Congress and not the States. The judgment of the Colorado Supreme Court therefore cannot stand,” the Supreme Court order stated.

In a March 5 Truth Social post, the former president slammed various attempts to impede his involvement in the elections, including the multiple lawsuits against him.

“As my lead in the polls over Joe Biden continues to skyrocket, these Corrupt and Highly Political Prosecutors and Judges are getting more and more desperate and dangerous. We are rapidly becoming a Communist Country, and my Civil Rights have been taken away from me,” he wrote.