Haley did much better than I expected tonight. I thought that as reality set in, Trump could have been heading toward a Roman Triumph with over 60 percent of the vote.
But Haley’s strong showing is an ominous sign for the general election Trump campaign going forward in that it demonstrates just how much Democrats and Independents are motivated to turn out against Donald.
I hope you enjoyed Donald Trump’s victory speech tonight, because you’re going to be hearing a lot more of that guy for the next ten months (let’s not kid ourselves – well beyond that point regardless).
It’s Biden versus Trump. Again. Set the controls for the heart of the sun.
OMG. What a ridiculous spectacle.
That speech was genuine status quo ante Trump. Both an exhausting reminder of the Trump years and an even more exhausting indication of what’s to come.
“Did you ever think that she actually appointed you, Tim?” Trump says of Haley turning to his flank. “You must really hate her.”
“I just love you,” Scott responds.
“We also won in 2020.” – Trump
Donald Trump didn’t like Haley’s speech. He’s devoted what he insisted was not going to be a “typical victory speech” laying into Haley and Gov. Chris Sununu in the most graceless terms.
All that said, if you had told me several months ago that she’d get 43 percent or so in New Hampshire, I would have been shocked. She has over-performed in this campaign, and done better than anyone but her loyalists would have expected.
It’s not going to be happy couple of weeks for Haley if she stays in. MAGA and MAGA-friendly media are going to absolutely hammer her for supposedly helping Biden by persisting. Presumably, the polling in South Carolina will continue to be poor for her, and even the mainstream media will constantly ask when she’s going to drop out. There aren‘t going to be any debates or other big events where she could potentially change the momentum. And, when the primary finally arrives, she will almost certainly lose.
For a while, there was some speculation that Dean Phillips would have to clear 20% in his longshot challenge to Joe Biden if he hoped to send any a message to the White House. Well, as of this writing, Phillips has secured just over 20 percent of the vote. Regardless of how he closes the night, 20.5 percent of the Democratic electorate in New Hampshire with 40 percent of the vote counted isn’t nothing. But I don’t get any sense that the message this rump minority of Democratic voters is sending will be received by either Biden or the Democratic Party. Dean’s performance against a sitting president from his own party is objectively remarkable. But Biden’s resounding victory as a write-in candidate, it must be added again, has muted the impressiveness of that performance. Message not received.