After “Trump Force One” touched down at the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport on Feb. 20, former President Donald Trump greeted a line of his supporters, chatting and signing memorabilia.
He also answered a question from The Epoch Times: Does he think former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will run as a “No Labels” candidate?
After a moment, President Trump responded: “We’ve had enough of her.”
Ms. Haley promised in a speech at roughly the same time that day that she would not drop out after the Feb. 24 Republican presidential primary, a race she is widely expected to lose.
“I feel no need to kiss the ring. And I have no fear of Trump’s retribution. I’m not looking for anything from him. My own political future is of zero concern,” she said.
The former ambassador to the United Nations said that her “purpose has never been to stop Trump at all costs,” noting that she voted for him twice.
“South Carolina will vote on Saturday. But on Sunday, I’ll still be running for president. I’m not going anywhere,” Ms. Haley said.
Her address has led to speculation about her intentions as Republican pressure and the delegate math make her path to the nomination narrower.
One possibility lies with No Labels, a political organization that tried and failed to recruit what it defines as centrist presidential contenders, including Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).
Joe Lieberman, formerly a Democratic senator from Connecticut and now a co-chair of No Labels, spoke positively about the idea of a Haley run on the No Labels ticket.
In Aiken, South Carolina, on Feb. 21, Vivek Ramaswamy, who was campaigning for President Trump, elaborated on that theme.
“The establishment’s bipartisan,” Mr. Ramaswamy said. “So they will stop at nothing to get Donald Trump out of office if they have their way.”
“[The speech] raised a lot of questions from people about whether or not you would ever consider any sort of third-party race, because you said you don’t want it to be either of those two guys,” Ms. MacCallum said.
Ms. Haley responded, “My focus is running in a Republican primary. It always has been. I have never talked to the ‘No Labels’ people, that’s not anything I’m focused on.”
The 2024 presidential race already has a heavyweight third-party challenger in the form of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., formerly a Democrat and now an independent.
