So The Koch family who are billionaires and have a libertarian policy advocacy group “Americans for Prosperity Action” has said that it is pulling back its financial backing of GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley. Following the former South Carolina governor’s performance in her home state’s primary on Saturday, in which she trailed former President Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner, by about 20 percent of the vote, Americans For Prosperity (AFP) CEO Emily Seidel said on Sunday that the group’s policy arm had decided it was time to “take stock” of its campaign spending. President Trump received 47 of South Carolina’s delegates, while Ms. Haley got three.
In a memo to staff (pdf), Ms. Seidel said that while AFP Action “stands firm” behind their endorsement for Nikki Haley, it’s time to “take stock of where we are and—as we always do—make sure we’re optimizing our resources for maximum impact towards our goals.” She said the group would now turn its attention to competitive Senate and House races “where we can make the difference,” in a tacit acknowledgement of President Trump’s commanding support among a majority of voters in the primary.
President Trump’s performance on Feb. 24 broke records for the most votes of any presidential candidate for any party in a South Carolina presidential primary. Ms. Seidel added, “given the challenges in the primary states ahead, we don’t believe any outside group can make a material difference to widen her path to victory.” She praised Ms. Haley as a “special leader with conviction, resolve, and steel in her spine to jump into a tough race with a narrow path,” and wished her well, saying that the PAC would continue to “wholeheartedly support” her efforts in her run for president.
“Americans deserve a choice for president who brings out the best in our country and who can deliver bold solutions to big challenges,” the memo read. AFP last week was criticized by Vivek Ramaswamy, a former GOP candidate who has since pulled out of the race citing clear support for former President Trump in the early GOP primaries, who questioned why AFP Action was backing Ms. Haley and opposing President Trump.
He lauded Chris Maidment, one such staffer who was fired from by AFP over comments he made in response to the Haley endorsement. “Nikki Haley is totally sideways on [AFP]’s foreign policy stance. She’s anti-free speech,” Mr. Maidment wrote on X on Dec. 1, 2023, in a thread distancing himself from the endorsement. “I’m not giving up this fight when a majority of Americans disapprove of Donald Trump and Joe Biden,” Ms. Haley said in downtown Charleston after the race was called for President Trump. Ms. Haley trails the former president by 61 percentage points in national polling. Her campaign, has in large part, been fueled with cash from anti-Trump billionaires, according to federal disclosures.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis who appeared at one point to be Donald Trump’s biggest GOP challengers, ran what most are calling a useless costly, turbulent campaign that failed to catch on with Republican voters. So it's our pleasure to say here on 100% pro Trump "Pure Solid News" that Ron DeSantis of Florida suspended his campaign for president on Sunday and endorsed former President Donald J. Trump, marking a spectacular implosion for a candidate once seen as having the best chance to dethrone Mr. Trump as the Republican Party’s nominee in 2024.
His departure from the race just two days before the New Hampshire primary election leaves Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, as Mr. Trump’s last rival standing. Trump celebrates DeSantis’ decision to drop out, ending a bitter feud that defined the 2024 campaign. Donald Trump set aside months of criticism and mockery of Ron DeSantis on Sunday night, celebrating his onetime Republican rival as his newest supporter after the Florida governor ended his presidential campaign and endorsed the former president.
For Trump, it’s become a familiar ritual to welcome the backing of someone who once tried to take him on. Nonetheless, it was notable at Sunday’s rally in New Hampshire to see Trump praise DeSantis without calling him “DeSantimonious” or “DeSanctus,” putting an end to perhaps the most bitter rivalry of Republicans’ 2024 campaign. “I just want to thank Ron and congratulate him on doing a very good job,” Trump said at the outset of his remarks. “He was very gracious, and he endorsed me. I appreciate that, and I also look forward to working with Ron.” Trump described DeSantis as “a really terrific person.”
Earlier in the day, DeSantis said via video that he would be ending his campaign two days before New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation GOP primary. But, Trump’s glee Sunday night aside, it wasn’t the warmest of endorsements. “It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” DeSantis said, offering matter-of-fact analysis through a forced smile without adding plaudits for Trump.
“I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee, and I will honor that pledge,” he continued, before adding a dig at the remaining contender, Nikki Haley. DeSantis described the former U.N. ambassador and onetime South Carolina governor as a stand-in for “the old Republican guard of yesteryear, a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism.” Trump seemed unbothered by DeSantis’ approach, striking a tone of camaraderie as fellow political combatants. “I will tell you it’s not easy,” Trump said Sunday night in Rochester. “They think it’s easy doing this stuff, right? It’s not easy.” Brenda Moneypenny, (Yes like in the 007 movies!) a 64-year-old from Alton, waited in the cold for two hours to see Trump on Sunday night. Miss Moneypenny pulled out her driver’s license to prove her last name cause well yeah it's like the 007 movies! She explained she's a registered independent who often votes Republican.
Miss Moneypenny said she has considered Haley because of the chance to elect the first woman to the presidency. But she never considered DeSantis. “Too flim-flamsy,” Moneypenny said of DeSantis. “He needs better campaign people. He doesn’t have anybody that’s doing him any favors right now.” Ultimately, she settled on Trump: “Tried and true,” she said. The former president seemed to revel in skewering DeSantis throughout the campaign, often making clear it was a personal grudge because he considered the governor’s decision to run in the first place an act of disloyalty. Trump endorsed DeSantis, then a congressman, in a competitive 2018 GOP primary for Florida governor. DeSantis went on to win the nomination and the general election. By the time DeSantis won a landslide reelection four years later, though, he was positioning himself for his own White House campaign.
In November when Trump came to Florida and addressed a boisterous crowd at a state GOP meeting standing in front of a sign that read: “Florida is Trump Country.” That evening, Trump did not mention DeSantis until more than 30 minutes into his speech. Even then, it was to brag about polls showing his advantages over the governor. “I endorsed him, and he became a rocket ship in 24 hours,” Trump said, claiming that DeSantis had begged for his endorsement. “Now he’s like a wounded falling bird from the sky.” Trump never did debate DeSantis or any other 2024 rival. He has said he wouldn’t until one proves they are a legitimate threat to him winning the nomination. DeSantis concentrated his campaign in recent months in Iowa, where he finished in second place in last week’s caucuses 30 percentage points behind Trump and barely ahead of Haley. Haley, meanwhile, has long prioritized New Hampshire as a potential springboard ahead of her home-state South Carolina primary next month.
In Iowa, APVoteCast surveys of caucusgoers suggested DeSantis’s supporters were much more likely than Haley’s to consider themselves conservatives who would back Trump no matter what if he wins the nomination and faces President Joe Biden in November. If that trend holds in New Hampshire, then Trump could expect at least some boost from DeSantis dropping out, and whatever he gets could stretch out his margin and frustrate Haley’s ability to claim any momentum. Indeed, Trump’s aides have said they expect DeSantis’ support around the country will shift heavily to Trump, who noted Sunday that he won New Hampshire’s 2016 primary by about 20 points. He lost the battleground state twice in general elections.
