Wednesday morning, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley did everyone a solid by being brief in her remarks as she dropped out of the Republican presidential primary race. She declined to endorse Donald Trump, who beat her handily once again on Super Tuesday, but did suggest that Trump could "earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him."
The conciliatory tone was no surprise. A common gripe against Haley is that she started criticizing Trump directly far too late in the race. For most of 2023, Haley avoided calling Trump out for his deranged behavior, only making half-hearted assertions that she was a steadier hand. After he gave a speech where he, at length, confused Haley for former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., she finally uncorked a little. She started offering more full-throated denunciations of the "chaos" Trump brings. Implicit was an electability argument: Her more reasonable-appearing demeanor meant she had a much better chance at defeating President Joe Biden in November. Many a pundit argued this pitch would have worked on Republican voters if she had only started making it sooner.
