Courtesy of MSNBC.

Dear Commons Community,

ABC News did a featured story on whether former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s supporters are split after she said she will be voting for Donald Trump, some seeing it as a “greenlight” for them to vote for Trump as well, while others are still not convinced.  Here is an excerpt.

After Haley suspended her campaign in March, Trump immediately became the presumptive GOP nominee but was faced with the task of bringing back Haley’s supporters and reuniting the Republican Party without her endorsement, especially after months of bitter rivalry.

Haley’s announcement on Wednesday that she will be voting for Trump appeared to soften the lingering animosity between the two, with Trump himself saying during media interviews on Thursday that he appreciated Haley’s comment – even saying he thinks she’s “going to be on our team,” while not specifying what he meant by “our team.”

The latest comments from the two is a move that could unite their support base, especially for Haley’s donors after earlier this year Trump “permanently barred” them from his MAGA movement, saying, “We don’t want them, and will not accept them,” as the rivalry between the two escalated in the primaries.

“Anybody that makes a ‘Contribution’ to Birdbrain, from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp,” Trump wrote on his social media platform in January. “We don’t want them, and will not accept them …”

Eric Levine, a New York-based Haley fundraiser who had vowed not to vote for Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol but had recently announced he would be voting for Trump, said: “What was her alternative?”

He told ABC News voting for Biden instead of Trump is not an option right now when the United States needs to “support Israel, confront our enemies and support our allies.” Levine also said that Haley’s public comment — even if it’s not a full endorsement — could persuade a lot of her supporters who felt “lost” inch toward Trump.

“I think this gives a lot of people permission to not just not vote for Joe Biden, but to vote for Donald Trump,” Levine said. “I think this is a very important statement that she made.”

Longtime Haley ally David Wilkins, a former U.S. ambassador to Canada under the Bush administration, also praised Haley’s announcement as “a good move,” saying, “Republicans need to be united as best we can.”

Ozzie Palomo, a lobbyist and prominent GOP bundler who raised money for Haley, echoed that sentiment, saying, “I think it’s the right call.”

“All the statements she made about Trump was during the primary; primaries are over and I think the world has dramatically changed, probably faster and more significantly than anyone anticipated over the last five, six months,” Palomo said, criticizing the Biden administration.

“Her saying she plans to vote for him probably gives cover to a significant portion of those that remain on the fence to feel comfortable enough to do the same,” Palomo said while acknowledging there are still likely people who will not support Trump.

Palomo said her comment that she will vote for Trump is “about as close to a full-out endorsement as you’re gonna get from her at least in the near term.”

“She could have easily said I’m not voting for Biden and left that open ended,” Palomo said. “However, she took the opportunity in a very public format to stress the fact that based on geopolitical matters and other policies like immigration, the economic mess, she’s comfortable to pick one over the other in a clear binary choice.”

Palomo stressed it’s still “incumbent on the former presidential reach out to her supporters and try to lure them back,” but noted the Trump campaign and the Republican Party’s recent fundraising success is a sign that many are already moving toward Trump’s direction — adding he himself has begun supporting Team Trump’s high-dollar joint fundraising operation with the Republican National Committee.

However, another major Haley donor, who spoke under the condition of anonymity to talk freely, told ABC News that Haley’s decision to vote for Trump did not change her mind about writing in her name in November instead of voting for the former president.

“I’m not voting for him — I’ll just tell you that,” the donor said. “I know it’s a binary choice, and I bravo and brava to those who take the binary choice seriously. I’ll be writing in Nikki Haley.”

The donor said the only way she’s voting for Trump is if Haley is picked as his running mate, but the donor said she doesn’t see that happening.

Earlier this month, Trump quickly shut down rumors about his team considering Haley as his running mate, writing on his social media platform, “Nikki Haley is not under consideration for the V.P. slot, but I wish her well!”

Politics make for strange bedfellows!

Tony