(LibertySons.org) – Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich spoke out after the Michigan primary returns from Tuesday, February 27, saying, “This is over.” After former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley lost to former President Donald Trump in Michigan by more than 41 percentage points, Gingrich saw no path forward for the challenger and encouraged her to concede and throw her support to Trump.
The former UN ambassador also lost in her home state of South Carolina by about 20 points on February 24 but vowed to remain in the race despite calls for her to drop her pursuit of the nomination. Per The Hill, Gingrich claimed, “She’s hanging around in case something happens to Trump, so she can then be the choice.” Yet, Haley had previously argued that she believed in the American system of providing voters with choices and stated, “I have a duty to give them that choice.”
Gingrich pointed to her Nevada loss in a race that didn’t even include Trump. In a stunning defeat, Haley lost by a two-to-one margin to “none of these candidates,” showing that more than 60% of the voters in the referendum would have preferred to vote for potentially any Republican other than Haley.
Gingrich hoped she would drop out and support the GOP effort to defeat President Joe Biden in November. He added, “I do not think it’s helpful to have her out there and saying nasty things about the Republican nominee. And as far as I’m concerned, Donald Trump tonight is the Republican nominee.”
Haley campaign spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas addressed the Michigan loss in a statement warning Republicans about the dangers of party division. She said some pundits were calling Biden’s loss of 20% of the Democratic voter base “a sign of weakness,” but she warned that Trump’s loss of nearly 35% of the GOP voter base should constitute “a flashing warning sign” for the party’s November prospects.
The statement echoed a similar criticism leveled by former Trump White House communications director Farrah Griffin in comments to The Hill, who claimed the situation where Trump was “running as virtually an incumbent” but won only a 60% share of the vote in South Carolina should sound more than a wakeup call. Griffin called it equivalent to “a five-alarm fire.”
~Here’s to Our Liberty!
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