Nikki Haley Relying on Trump's Legal Problems is Key to Staying in Race

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Coming in second in New Hampshire, some wondered if Nikki Haley would drop out of the Republican presidential primary.

Some wonder if she loses her own home state's primary in South Carolina in February, will she leave the race?

According to a new report, that may not be the case.

From the Washington Examiner, "Former President Donald Trump‘s escalating legal drama could be former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley‘s justification to fend off pressure to drop her White House bid."

The story continues:

Haley claims her campaign will last through the Feb. 24 South Carolina primary and Super Tuesday on March 5 while directly pointing to Trump’s coming legal trials as a key vulnerability the GOP will face against President Joe Biden in November if Trump is the nominee.

While Haley’s pathway to the presidency faces long odds, polls suggest the Republican Party is open to an alternative if Trump is convicted as he faces 91 indictments across four criminal cases. If Haley has enough funding to keep up her White House run, public sentiment could shift more in her favor.

'The Republican Party is facing the possibility that former President Trump could be convicted before Election Day,' said David Darmofal, a professor of political science at the University of South Carolina. 'If he is and is sentenced to prison, the Republican Party could face a situation that no major party has faced and that a prominent party hasn’t faced since the Socialist Party’s Eugene Debs ran for president from prison in 1920 while serving a 10-year sentence for violating the Sedition Act of 1918. From this perspective, it might be helpful for the Republican Party to have an alternative candidate in Haley.'

Trump could feasibly go to prison. He also could not.

There's also the question of how much these charges are even legit and nothing more than political hits.

Waiting on someone's legal troubles to unfold in a way that benefits you as a candidate is a strategy.

It is also undemocratic - it allows the system to take away primary voters' overwhelming candidate of choice so far.

Donald Trump has been leading in the polls by a wide margin. Nikki Haley, to date, has not.

Ultimately, maybe we let voters decide.

Maybe we let democracy happen.