Nikki Haley lost the South Carolina Republican primary to Donald Trump by roughly 20 points, 59 to 39. It is her home state of South Carolina, where she was once the governor, where she's been described as one of South Carolina's favorite daughters. She took a historic loss in South Carolina. Historic in that no non-incumbant running for President has swept early primary states the way it's been done now by Donald Trump. Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina. Donald Trump has run a clean sweep. What more? We're looking at historic numbers of turnout. Donald Trump just gathered the largest number of Republican votes in a primary in the history of South Carolina. What more instill historic proportions, no one, as far as we can tell in modern political history, has stuck around and continued to run for President despite racking up losses like Nikki Haley. Getting 40% of the vote in her home state, where once again, she was once governor, South Carolina, has been painted as some as a small Pyrrhic victory for Nikki Haley. Karl Rove was on the Fox News channel that night offering voter analysis and said, This reflects a party divided. I respectfully but strongly disagree.

At this point, any other conclusion then the Republican Party belongs to Donald Trump is simply spin. South Carolina is the exclamation point on the idea, on the reality that right now the Republican Party is Donald Trump. A 20-point loss in your home state where you were once. Governor can in no way be spun as a victory for Nikki Haley, which leads to the question of why. Why is it that Nikki Haley continues to run for President? People look inside the numbers, I think either lying to themselves or lying to the public about what's actually happening. People have suggested, Nikki Haley has suggested, for one, that people want a choice, that this is not a Soviet-style election with only one choice. What is glossed over there is the people have made their choice over and over. There's nothing Soviet about losing in a constitutional Republic at the voter booth with the will of the people having spoken against Nikki Haley. Secondarily, Nikki Haley has said that she is the political outsider set against the Republican establishment that wants her to leave the race for President. I don't know in what world I haven't had that explained to me in some way that makes sense how Nikki Haley is the political outsider while Donald Trump is the Republican establishment.

And thirdly, although perhaps a little more granular, Nikki Haley has said that she is the candidate for the youth. She is tomorrow. And Donald Trump, with his age, like Joe Biden, with his frailty, represents yesterday. When youth vote in South Carolina, it looks like the following: The strongest turnout for Donald Trump was in the age of 17 to 29. Although it only makes up 6% of the electorate, Donald Trump got 71% of the vote, according to exit polls, among voters aged 17 to 29. There's no spin, there's no lie, there is no narrative that you can set that leads you to any other conclusion. But the South Carolina is an exclamation point on the fact that the Republican Party belongs to Donald Trump. Now, I have friends, many friends, who will hear that statement and consider that advocacy. I find myself continually surprised at the idea that an accurate depiction of reality is somehow internalized as pom-poms and cheerleading. You cannot say you are someone opposed to Donald Trump. Accurately, you cannot actively change reality if you cannot accurately describe reality. And there is no reality where Nikki Haley represents Republicans. That doesn't mean there aren't some people out there that would vote for Nikki Haley.

She won the counties around Charleston and Columbia, more urban college-centric, educated, more well-off counties in South Carolina. I know many people who would tell me they simply can't vote for Donald Trump, that they are for Nikki Haley. But Nikki Haley is a blank slate. She is Joe Biden. I don't mean that ideologically, although I think they share some similarities, most notably when it comes to measuring the cultural wins of the moment and bending to what is the path of least resistance, what will get you the least amount of scorn, even if it costs you the truth. I think she also shares some similarities with Joe Biden in her willingness to engage in military adventurism, seeing the United States roll in the world as the global police. But what I mean by Nikki Haley, as a comparison to Joe Biden, is that she doesn't represent anything other than a response to Donald Trump. If you ask most people on the left, Do they like Joe Biden? You probably don't have to wait but one or two sentences until they bring up the name Donald Trump. If you ask most people why they like Nikki Haley, you probably only need to wait one or two sentences until they once again bring up the name of Donald Trump.

Everything in American politics, as much as we would like to make it about ideology and much as we would like to make it complex, is simple and comes down to two words. For the better part of almost a decade, but easily eight years, American politics has been Donald Trump. Those that vote for Nikki Haley are doing so for the same reason that the left votes for Joe Biden, as a response to Donald Trump. But it's not enough. It's not enough to shine a light on a path to victory for Nikki Haley. Then why is she running for President? Why is she still running for president? I'm going to offer you four reasons, from least likely to most likely, on why Nikki Haley is still running for President. Number one, it's about money. Nikki Haley has the strong support of the donor class. She has all the money she needs to stick around. The donor class doesn't seem to be flowing away from Nikki Haley despite racking up losses in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. She's got consultants around her getting paid. She has got the infrastructure to continue to tell her that there's a path to the presidency, to hang around the hoop, to see what happens.

Grab a rebound. You've got the money, and there's many with a vested interest. This is the opinion of my Fox & Friends co-host, Rachel Campos Duffy. By the way, as an aside, as a quick parenthetical, I mentioned that the only person that took a bigger loss in South Carolina than Nikki Haley was Will Caine, because along with my Fox & Friends co-host, Rachel Campos Duffy and Pete Hegset, I entered into unpopular waters. I did so knowingly, but I feel firmly grounded in the truth. I said the following on Fox & Friends. I'm going to say something controversial before we go. Sure. Fried fish over fried chicken. Oh, my God. Oh, I wouldn't say that. I dare you to go... Fried catfish? Walk out this building and say that. Fried chicken. That is a joke. I think some of America out there is going, You know what? Will's right. No, you should resign. Tartar sauce? Hot sauce? Over fried chicken? With some hush puppies? Please let Will know. What's your Twitter handle, Will? I have taken a less popular position. However, I bet you I'm polling at a good 35%. You're polling at Nikki Haley levels.

That'll go great for you. I said what I said. Fried catfish over fried chicken. Let's check in on the results. Two days, there's been a poll put out on both Instagram and on Twitter. Did I take a bigger loss than Nikki Haley?

You're close. If you look here at your screen, fried fish 33% of the poll, fried chicken took 67%. So you're right around what you're talking about.

Well, that's a bigger loss than Nikki Haley. That's a 34-point loss for me. Her loss was roughly 20. Well, I have an argument, but let me hear from the people today. What are they saying about why it's fried catfish or fried chicken over fried catfish?

Well, this person is just like, Will, what are you smoking? That's so wrong. No, fried chicken. Strong argument. Then you can read this one here if you want to.

G. Vartuli says, I love fish so much more than chicken, so fried fish any day over fried chicken. Some support amongst the people. T. J. Rodes says, Fried catfish over fried chicken and fried chicken over all other fried fish. T. J. Rodes is onto something. I know that this is a take that was incredibly unpopular when it comes to polling, but I found some support in the comments from people like Missy. Will He's right. It's a Texas thing. But I do find myself surrounded on this show by people like Tinfoil Pat and young establishment, James Laherty, and from the Northeast, two a days. My suspicion is you're going to all cast your vote with the masses, that you're going to ride the popular wave, that you are all fried chicken. Quickly, let me get the votes on the show. Tinfoil Pat, can you make a vote technologically today here on the Will Caine show?

Pat is off writing other conspiracies right now, but I think we don't have him on the horn right now. I think he's in his den writing out new things. But I wouldn't guess. I'll go first for myself. I'm with you on this. I'm fried fish all the way to To be honest, I'm a Northeaster. I'm from New England, so yeah, fried fish.

All right. That's one vote for Will. James. Young establishment, James. I don't have too much of a say since I have the same salmon, chicken, steak every day for lunch or dinner, maybe a tuna wrap. So split. I'd rather probably have a Popeye's fried chicken sandwich than really anything. But I think the more pressing topic was that the distraction of the two buttons down on live TV distracted me away from the argument itself. Wow.

I called you out.

Two buttons down, but Burt Reynolds had not really made an appearance. I don't think my chest hair was starring on Fox and Friends, but I was two buttons down, and I had a debate before we took to the air. Should I risk Burt Reynolds, or Should I risk door-to-door Bible salesman? Because my shirt has, like many men's shirts, the second button in the awkward spot. Do I want to appear as though I'm trying to make Fox and Friends sexy, or do I want to appear as though I'm knocking on your door and asking, Hey, has anyone spoken to you recently about Jesus? So I didn't know which way to go, and I did go two buttons down. Also, don't know which way that would pull. I know that tinfoil pad is somewhere on a whiteboard with lines going everywhere to make a very passionate argument that that I am wrong and that it is fried chicken. Quickly, that my argument before we return to Nikki Haley is as follows. Most people haven't had good fried catfish, understandably. You don't walk around in a big city with a great amount of options for fried catfish. I happen to like cornmeal.

I happen to be from a rural area of Texas. I happen to grow up around Lake Texoma. When you get tied into a place that knows how to do catfish, it simply beats. I've had some of the best fried chicken. I'm telling you right now, I've had sweet tea brined fried chicken. I'm telling you, that's amazing, fried chicken. But I will order. Anytime an opportunity exists or somebody says, Would you rather go to Huck's Catfish? Or, Would you rather go to Babe's Chicken? I will choose fried catfish over fried chicken. But I fully understand that I've taken a loss bigger than Nikki Haley, which leads us back to why is she running for President? Our for you reason number two, that she's attempting to raise her profile for Many people wondered during the Republican presidential primary what was in it for Vivek Ramaswami. Why was Vivek Ramaswami running for President? One of the things that you can learn from his race for President is he can change the dialog. He can change the conversation. He probably never had a real opportunity to win the nomination, but he did raise the name profile of a vague Ramaswami when it comes to Republicans.

Nikki Haley has stuck around long enough that she is constantly in news cycle. Her name recognition, her Q rating have increased. Now, there are people that will say, Yeah, but she's taken on some negatives. Among the Republican base, she'll be thought of negatively as constantly pating herself as an alternative to Donald Trump. If her rhetoric continues to get more combative, her negatives will only rise. I happen to think that memories are short. I don't know that that will last through 2028. She has some strategic upside to keep her name in the conversation that she has, by prospect of losing, maybe increased her opportunity in 2028. But I don't think that's why she's still running for President. That takes us to 2024. Last week here on the Will Caine Show, Bill Himmer joined us. We had a conversation about a conversation he had with Nikki Haley on America's Newsroom. Bill Himmer asked her if she's attempting to be an insurance policy against some nothing happening with Donald Trump. What that something may be, who knows? Right now, or at least for the past several months, the supposition has been that it will be something in a courtroom.

One of these indictments, that has not turned out to be the case. One of these cases that turns into a conviction changes the equation for President. But it's getting harder to see, first of all, how anything derails Donald Trump. Certainly an indictment didn't do so. His poll numbers go What would happen with a conviction? Do we have any evidence to believe, at least among the Republican base, in a primary, that anything else would happen but to see his numbers go up? There's other potential Black Swan events that was described by Byron York on Fox & Friends. A Fox News contributor and columnist at the Washington Examiner, Byron York said, Who knows? It could be anything. That's what a black swan event is, something unforeseeable. People have talked about, how is it that with so many, first of all, opposed to Donald Trump, so much in the infrastructure of the United States political system, not just positioned against Donald Trump, but throwing everything they've got at him. And a anti-Trump base lathered up into a froth, how something hasn't happened to Donald Trump or attempted to take him out. Yes, physically. Assassination from a race for President.

He's also '77. So you could be saying, Well, what about his own health trouble? Could something come up? Whatever it may be, is Nikki Haley positioning herself for as an insurance policy. Hang around the hoop, see what you get, see what rebound comes your way. However, even if something happens, I don't see the Republican base. While memories are short when it comes to 2028, memories are crystallized when it comes to 2024. I don't see any scenario where the Republican base Donald Trump sits there at a convention, unable to run for President, says, We now must all rally behind Nikki Haley. I think they would find another name for 2024. Which leads me to the fourth option, and the one that I find the most likely. Nikki Haley said she will stick around through at least Super Tuesday. This weekend, I had on Fox & Friends, the chair of No Labels. His name is Joe Cunningham. He's a former Democratic congressman from South Carolina. Joe Cunningham said the following when I asked him about Nikki Haley. There's been conversation. There's been speculation about Nikki Haley as a potential No Labels candidate. There's also a lot of talk about Joe Manchin, Mitt Romney.

Who will be your candidate on the No Labels ticket?

Well, the truth is, we're talking to a lot of spectacular people right now, and we're not ready to unveil those folks just yet. This has been a project to essentially give Americans another choice if they're unhappy with the presumptive nominees, which it appears it's going to be Trump versus Biden right now. But we don't know. Nikki Haley, she's remaining in the race. You can't count her out completely. Hats off to her for staying in it and for sticking with it. But we're looking for great quality people, folks that have broad appeal to independents, Democrats, Republicans. And yeah, Nikki Haley is somebody we'd definitely be interested in.

Nikki Haley is definitely someone we'd be interested in at no labels. This, to me, is the story of 2024. For. Joe Manchin said he will not run for President. With Nikki Haley as a third party? This could swing a presidential election. This could be Ross Perot of the 1990s. If it's somebody like Joe Manchin, if it's a Democrat, it could rob the presidency or swing the presidency in the favor of Donald Trump. Democrats know that. That's why, and I discussed that with Joe Cunningham, no labels has been threatened by Democrats with investigations, with the potentiality of the DOJ. I want to have a deeper conversation here on the Will Caine show, perhaps later this week with Joe Cunningham about no labels. But if that candidate is somebody like Nikki Haley, that could swing the presidential election in the favor of Joe Biden. To me, as I add up why she's still running for President, this makes the most sense that she switches sometime after Super Tuesday to no labels. That is my best guess at why Nikki Haley is still running for President. Hey, it's Will Caine. Click here to subscribe to the Fox News channel on YouTube.

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