Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon warned that Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley would be a “viper” inside a new Trump administration and that picking her as running mate would outrage the ex-president’s hardcore supporters.
Mr. Bannon predicted a “big fight” when the GOP establishment attempts to persuade Mr. Trump to make Ms. Haley his running mate, which has become a subject of rampant speculation as Ms. Haley climbs in the polls.
“They’re going to try to force Nikki on the ticket. They’ll say Trump needs a woman, Nikki, on the ticket. She balances things,” he said on the “Human Events Daily With Jack Posobiec” podcast. “And she can bring together that 15% of never-Trumpers in the Republican Party. We’re going to have to have that fight.”
He said that he doesn’t think the former U.N. ambassador is the right choice to be Mr. Trump’s second in command.
“If Nikki Haley is in this administration, in any capacity, it will fail. Well, she’s a viper. She’s a viper. And once she gets in there, she’ll try to run it as prime minister. She’ll try to be Dick Cheney. Her to Trump will be just like Dick Cheney to Bush. That’s what she’ll try to do,” Mr. Bannon said.
Mr. Trump has reportedly asked his allies and advisers about the possibility of Ms. Haley as his vice president. The opinions were mostly negative.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, said in November that picking Ms. Haley might be a good idea for Mr. Trump as a way to grab the support of voters leaning toward the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
“You’re going to pick the vice president that’s about addition, not subtraction. So you’re not going to pick somebody that already equates to you,” Mr. McCarthy said at the New York Times DealBook Summit. “If I was picking for purely political decisions, what it looks like today is the anti-Trump vote is going to Nikki Haley.”
Ms. Haley and Mr. Trump once had a good relationship. She was the U.N. ambassador under Mr. Trump. But once she announced her run for president, things turned sour.
Mr. Trump nicknamed her “birdbrain” and called her out for saying she would not run for president in 2024 if he was also running.
“Birdbrain doesn’t have the TALENT or TEMPERAMENT to do the job,” he said on social media of her White House ambitions.
Ms. Haley is rising in the polls. In some polls, she’s grabbed second place behind Mr. Trump.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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