Haley voters are up for grabs. Who wants them more - Donald Trump or Joe Biden? That's the question today. 

Nikki Haley suspended her campaign today. "I have no regrets," she said as she delivered a short speech to supporters. She did not endorse Donald Trump. I didn't anticipate that she would do that today. That may change down the road, we'll have to wait and see. She did offer her congratulations to Trump and wished him well.

Haley liked to say that her campaign was not all about her, that it was not personal. She said she was running for the sake of America. I believed that, to some extent. What is reality, though, is that politics are personal. This is especially true for politicians. Look no further than Donald Trump. He frequently says that his second term, if he wins in November, will include some form of retaliation against those who wronged him. It's a human response. Or, look at Joe Biden. He is suffering from dementia, yet he still claims he is the only one who can beat Donald Trump so he is running for re-election. 

Haley's speech today was measured and I think she did pretty well, all things considered. She finally had to admit defeat. She noted that she is a conservative Republican and has always been. She wants a return to bringing down the national debt, smaller government, term limits on members of Congress to end the dysfunction, a push against isolationism while the world is on fire, and she wants Republicans to bind together.

Trump needs to unite the party but he's going to have to work for it, she said. Trump received the endorsement of Mitch McConnell today. He received the endorsement of Speaker Johnson, too. Senator Thune endorsed him. The Establishment is coming together for Trump as was always going to be the case. That is what the Republican Party does. It supports its nominee, no matter how bruising the primary ends up being. 

That is something that Trump supporters sometimes forget. The Establishment Republicans built the party. Trump brought populism to the forefront to grow the party. The Never Trumpers list never included Nikki Haley. She is a Reagan-Bush Republican. That does not make her a RINO. It makes her an old-school Republican. The term RINO gets tossed around a lot by Trump loyalists but Nikki Haley was a Republican leader when Trump was still a New York Democrat. 

In other words, Haley is not a Democrat or a RINO. She accepted help from Democrats in the primary and that is how she ran her campaign. She knows Republicans have to increase their voter turnout, not depress it. When Trump says things like people who financially contributed to Haley aren't welcome in the MAGA movement, he increases his chances of losing in November. That is his ego talking. A political party is not a private club. The goal is to increase party voters, not turn them away. 

Haley is right. Trump will have to be magnanimous now and reach out to Haley's voters. I think most will vote for Trump in November because we must defeat Joe Biden. But, some won't. They will either write in another name or skip the top of the ballot. The worst-case scenario is that they will stay home. Trump cannot allow the couch to tank his victory in November. 

So, no more "bird brain" shots at Haley. No more belittling her husband for not being on the campaign trail with her. That was a really bad look for Trump. Trump says he's a big supporter of the military yet he mocked Haley's husband while he is deployed overseas. 

This is Trump's time of choosing, Haley said. She's right. There is nothing wrong with a candidate offering an alternative to another candidate. It was a competition between the new Republican Party and the old Republican Party. That's ok. The Republican Party is not monolithic. Republicans aren't Democrats. The key is that after the primary, Republican voters have to unite with the nominee. A Republican can't win without the party united behind him (or her) and an ability to pull in independent voters, maybe even some moderate Democrats. Donald Trump received votes from all of those categories, or have we forgotten that? Remember all the blue-collar Democrats in 2016 who voted for Trump because he sought them out? He talked to them on the campaign trail. There is a chance he will win their votes again if he commits to expanding MAGA World, not treating it as his private party.

Trump has to work for it. The time for hurt feelings and anger over disloyalty is over. 

Haley suspended her campaign as she began it. She quoted from the Book of Joshua. Be strong and courageous. Joshua 1.9 reads, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” That's what she did. It takes courage to run against Donald Trump. She hung in there until Super Tuesday when all the others left the race as voting began. She was the alternative. 

I like that she used a quote from Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher's advice was to not just follow the crowd. Always make up your own mind. That is the conservative way. Democrats are lemmings. 

Joe Biden is reaching out to Haley's voters. He used a post from Trump's Truth Social account. It highlights the part where Trump said Haley's contributors aren't welcome. 

You don’t have to agree with me on everything to know MAGA extremism is a threat to this country.

We need everyone on board—join our campaign: https://t.co/AZ3yBfRniy pic.twitter.com/a8MvWHqtSZ

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) March 6, 2024

Trump does need them. He needs all the votes he can get, as does Biden. It's going to be a brutal race. This will be an unusually long presidential campaign. The way to win is to unite against Joe Biden. Our country won't be recognizable after another four years of Biden-Harris. As Haley often said, a vote for Biden is a vote for President Harris. 

I end my campaign with the same words I began it from the Book of Joshua. I direct them to all Americans, but especially to so many of the women and girls out there who put their faith in our campaign.

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. For God… pic.twitter.com/XAwgOGzKdy

— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) March 6, 2024