Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley says that the prospect of a Kamala Harris presidency ought to "send a chill up every American's spine."
Haley made the remark during an appearance Sunday on Fox Business's Sunday Morning Futures.
Haley is the former Republican governor of South Carolina and the former Trump administration ambassador to the United Nations. Now, however, Haley is attempting to become the Republican Party's 2024 presidential nominee.
During her Fox appearance, Haley attempted to use the prospect of a Harris presidency to argue against making former President Donald Trump the Republican Party's presidential nominee.
Haley did not connect all of the dots in her argument. So, we're going to have to fill in some of the blanks.
Haley began:
Donald Trump is a friend of mine. It was an honor to serve in the administration and work on foreign policy with him, and I agree with a lot of his policies. But, the fact is, I don't know if it's four or five or six or how many indictments it is now, but he's going to spend a lot of time in a courtroom and not on a campaign trail.
Clearly, Haley believes that the indictments are ultimately going to cost Trump the presidency, should he become the Republican Party's presidential nominee. But, how does this lead to a Harris presidency?
Haley's idea would appear to be that, if a Republican is not elected in 2024, then President Joe Biden will be reelected. And, if Biden is reelected, it seems very likely, based on his condition, that he will not be able to continue serving as president.
If this all were to take place, then the vice president would replace the president, meaning that Harris would become the next U.S. president.
Haley, during her Fox appearance, said that "we cannot" let this happen, insisting, "we can't chance this."
Haley said:
We have to make sure that we have a new generational leader that's going to bring in not only Republicans, but we're going to pull back the independents. We're going to bring back in the suburban women, we're going to bring in Hispanics. We're going to bring in the Asian community. We have to make sure we win this, because the thought of Kamala Harris being president should send a chill up every American spine.
This is a smart campaign strategy by Haley, attempting to use the prospect of a Harris presidency to scare people away from voting for Trump. Harris, after all, failed miserably in her attempt to become president, and she remains one of the least favorable politicians in this country.
The effectiveness of Haley's argument, however, will depend on whether or not voters really believe that Trump cannot become president. The polls do not seem to support this idea.
Not only does Trump continue to dominate the Republican 2024 field, but Trump also is leading Biden in various polls. Haley, on the other hand, is sitting, on average, at 3.7% in the Republican primary. Thus, the polls would suggest that no other Republican will do as well as Trump would do in the 2024 general election.
