Haley Calls GOP A Ship With Hole In It

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley likened the Republican Party to a ship with a hole in it.

Nikki Haley: GOP Is ‘A Ship With A Hole In It,’ I’m ‘The Life Raft’ https://t.co/ugp28BNRQX pic.twitter.com/I191sQ76Xf

— Daily Wire News (@DailyWireNews) February 28, 2024

During a CNN interview with Dana Bash while results from Michigan’s Republican primary were broadcast live on Tuesday evening, the GOP presidential candidate stated, “What I’m saying to my Republican Party family is, we’re in a ship with a hole in it and we can either go down with the ship and watch the country go socialist Left, or we can see that we need to take the life raft and move in a new direction.”

She made the point while highlighting what she perceives as a losing pattern amid the party since former President Donald Trump got elected into office in 2016.

“Look at what’s happened in Michigan. You look back in 2012, Michigan was such a bright spot. I was there. They had just passed right to work. They were winning seats up and down the ticket. It was just a great time for Michigan,” she stated.

Drawing a contrast between the situation of things now and how things used to be before Trump took office, she added, “But ever since Donald Trump became president, they’ve lost the governor’s mansion; they’ve lost the state House; they’ve lost the state Senate. The same thing has happened in Minnesota. I was in Colorado earlier today, they haven’t had a Republican get over 45% statewide since Donald Trump was president in 2016. It is a pattern we continue to see.”

She then went on to point out that Trump does not have a lot of support within the Republican Party even though he has secured over half of the votes in all six primary contests that have been held so far.

“You’re seeing the same thing whether you look at all the early states, Donald Trump didn’t get 40% of any of the Republican primary vote, it is a problem,” she pointed out.

For Haley, Trump is “not bringing people into the party” but “pushing people out.”

“Colorado today has 10% less Republicans than they had before when Donald Trump was president. And so this is just a pattern we continue to see. But more than that, look at what’s happened to the Republican Party. The Republican Party is now not just changing based on tone. It’s changing based on policy,” she stated.

Pointing to how Trump is influencing a shift within the party, the former U.N. ambassador stated, “Donald Trump’s not talking anything about shrinking government, stopping spending, cutting out the waste — none of that. And then he’s changed the whole idea of peace through strength. We used to always talk about the strength of our alliances. Now you’ve got Donald Trump basically saying he’s going to tell Putin to go and invade our allies who stood with us after 9/11. It’s all a shift.”

Haley’s statements came the same night Trump scored a large victory against her in the Michigan Republican primary, garnering 66% votes compared to Haley’s 29.4% votes.