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Liz Cheney Has Thoughts on Nikki Haley Staying in the Race

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  January 26, 2024 9:30 AM

Despite coming in second to former and potentially future President Donald Trump in New Hampshire earlier this week and coming in third last week in Iowa, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is determined to stay in the Republican presidential primary. This is especially since her home state is coming up, with the South Carolina primary taking place on February 24. While many have called on her to drop out of the race so that the party can coalesce around supporting Trump, Haley appears determined to continue the two-person race, and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) is expressing her support.

Cheney communicated such thoughts in an interview with "Pod Save America." The full interview was released on Friday, but her thoughts on Haley staying in were released ahead of time as a preview.

When asked about Haley's "decision to stay in the race" and if she saw "a path for her," Cheney offered that "I hope she stays in the race, you know, as she long as she has to," pointing to Super Tuesday on March 5 as a specific example. "I think that we're in a situation where only two states have voted," Cheney pointed out, as she also mentioned concerns some New Hampshire Republicans have about voting for Trump, as well as the ability to win Independents in the general election. 

At first, Cheney didn't come off as entirely anti-Trump as one might expect, until she claimed that it was "even more important" to discuss "the threat that [Trump] poses." This, as is to be expected, applies to "what we watched him do on the lead up to January 6, his attempt to seize power" and how it supposedly "presents an existential threat, and so we need to make sure that we're challenging him and working to defeat him at every step of the way."

The former congresswoman brought it back to Haley when she offered "and right now, Nikki Haley is in this fight, and I think she ought to stay in it."

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The New York Times also received a copy of the transcript ahead of time and focused on Cheney's support for Haley. In sharing such coverage, co-host Jon Favreau made it a point to highlight how supposedly shocking the choice of guest would be, asking "I know, right??" 

Actually, given how not only anti-Trump but now anti-GOP Cheney is, it's not surprising at all that she would do an interview with former Obama staffers. That's especially if she's given her the chance to bash Trump, lament January 6, and/or advertise her book. 

Such coverage provided more about the episode, including how Cheney not only hopes Haley stays in. Even though the election is now only a matter of months away, Cheney is still entertaining a presidential run herself, as she's yet to rule it out:

Ms. Cheney has not endorsed a presidential candidate, and has teased the possibility of a third-party run herself. She didn’t rule that out on the podcast, and she told Jon Favreau, the podcast’s host and a former speechwriter in the Obama administration, that she “certainly” thinks a third-party candidate, whether her or someone else, will enter the race before November.

“I think we’ll see what happens,” she said. “You know, my No. 1 priority is defeating him and I think that’s going to guide whatever ultimately I decide I’m going to do.”

She dismissed the notion that Mr. Trump has all but clinched his party’s nomination and criticized Ronna McDaniel, the chair of the Republican National Committee, for urging Republicans to consolidate support behind Mr. Trump after his victory in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.

Another clip released on Friday included more warnings from Cheney about what a second term from Trump would supposedly look like. Cheney shared she is most scared about "the extent to which we know that as president, he will refuse to enforce the rulings of our courts."

Expressing concerns about being "a nation of laws," Cheney warned about "hav[ing] someone like Donald Trump," who she claims won't enforce rulings. She referred to Trump's arguments about "a president deserving complete and absolute immunity," which led her to bringing up concerns once more January 6 again. The courts are examining such a question of presidential immunity. 

Another concern was people who Trump would have around him for the second term, such as Gen. Mike Flynn, and the international leaders he's praised. Cheney claimed this would lead us to "very serious national secutiy threats as well."

"So he presents an existential threat, there's no question," Cheney claimed in the clip, especially as it applies to "the rule of law, to the republic itself.

Not only has Cheney been fierce in going after Trump, she has revealed that she'll leave the Republican Party if he's once again the nominee. In many ways, though, it's as if she already left the party. She lost her primary to now Rep. Harriet Hageman in August 2022 by close to 40 points, and she has certainly not been shy in going after Republican members of Congress every chance she gets. 

When it comes to this podcast episode, The New York Times mentioned Cheney's ire for Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina who dropped out of the presidential primary in November and endorsed Trump last week. Since then, he's been a frequent face on the campaign trail and may be considered a possibility for Trump's running mate. Another name Cheney went after is another potential running mate, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, who replaced Cheney in May 2021 as the House Republican Conference chairwoman. Not even Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mconnell of Kentucky was spared, despite the beef he has had with Trump.

"History will judge them, in my view, as harshly as it will judge Trump because he can’t do what he’s doing without them," Cheney claimed.