After news outlets called Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary for Donald Trump, the pundits got to work analyzing what this means for the candidates. Former Trump administration White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was on Fox News’ Jesse Watters post-primary roundtable, and she attempted to do real analysis. Bad move!
While McEnany, along with the rest of the Fox News world, called the New Hampshire victory proof that Haley’s chances of winning the nomination were zero, McEnany pointed out that Fox News’ “voter analysis,” showed the “divides in the Democrat Party” are not nearly as worrisome as the issues Trump faces. McEnany directed the audience to the fact that “seven in 10 Nikki Haley voters said ‘I would not vote for Trump.’ There was a Des Moines Register poll, 43% said, ‘no, I wouldn’t vote for Trump.’ If I’m Trump, I sit back and I exclusively focus on the general election.”
McEnany followed this up a little while later by explaining that while she believed Haley knew she had no chance of winning, the former South Carolina governor was angling for a running-mate ask from Trump. Haley’s continued campaign, according to McEnany, was selling that idea to Trump. Then McEnany stepped into deep doo doo suggesting that considering Trump’s need to get independent voters in the coming election against President Biden, asking Haley to be his running mate wasn’t necessarily a bad idea:
President Trump, I would go home tonight. I go to my victory party. I would celebrate, I made history yet again. But then I’d go home and I’d look under the hood. And when you look under the hood of our Fox News voter analysis data, you find that 32% of Republicans say we won’t vote for Trump.
I’ve got to unite the party. That’s the argument Nikki Haley is making. And #2: I would look, Nikki Haley won independents, according to Fox News voter analysis, 59 to 33. So I go home if I’m Trump, I celebrate, and then I say, ‘I got to unite this party. I got to win independents. That’s how I beat Biden.’”
How did Trump take this piece of analysis? Trump went to his failed social media company account on TruthSocial in order to excoriate McEnany for even mentioning her former benefactor’s name when it comes to “advice,” writing: “I don’t need any advice from RINO Kayleigh McEnany on Fox. Just had a GIANT VICTORY over a badly failing candidate, ‘Birdbrain,’ and she’s telling me what I can do better. Save your advice for Nikki!”
McEnany has spent most of Wednesday talking almost exclusively about how great Trump is, and the Donald has posted videos of her obsequiousness.
This wasn’t the first time Trump has gone after his former spokesperson. Last year, after McEnany made the mistake of saying polling showed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was “closing the gap” Trump posted a rant saying “Kayleigh “Milktoast” McEnany just gave out the wrong poll numbers on FoxNews. I am 34 points up on DeSanctimonious, not 25 up. While 25 is great, it’s not 34. She knew the number was corrected upwards by the group that did the poll. The RINOS & Globalists can have her. FoxNews should only use REAL Stars!!!”
In Trump’s defense, he’s been rewarded by Republicans for his repeated attacks and detestable behavior toward both real and perceived opponents and enemies. And it’s an incredibly long list of those who have offended his delicate sensibilities. You might remember when Trump went after Sen. Ted Cruz’s wife, Heidi, and Cruz did his best impression of an indignant Texas male from a movie Western—only to cave in and cravenly support Trump a few weeks later.
Then there was Sen. Lindsey Graham, who shortly after publicly calling Trump a “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot” who didn’t represent the Republican Party, endorsed Trump and became one of his most unscrupulous (and idiotic) defenders.
Remember how former Vice President Mike Pence spent so many years, standing behind Trump, nodding his head stoically, only to have Trump sic his Jan. 6 mob after him? Well, Pence hasn’t “ruled out” voting for his former (almost) hangman in 2024.
Trump’s greatest strength was being born into extraordinary wealth and his greatest (and most dangerous) weakness is his insecurity, combined with his mediocre mind. It is the source of his cruelty but also the reason he has so far been unable to achieve his miserable dream of ruling the universe.
Tim Miller from The Next Level podcast comes on to discuss Iowa, New Hampshire, and the cracks they expose in Donald Trump’s MAGA-movement.
