Ron DeSantis Calls Out Nikki Haley for Refusing To Endorse Trump: ‘We All Knew What We Were Doing’ When We Signed the Pledge

 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called out his former Republican presidential rival Nikki Haley on Wednesday for refusing to endorse the presumptive nominee, former President Donald Trump, despite dropping out of the race.

During an appearance on Newsmax’s The Balance, DeSantis told host Eric Bolling that Haley’s defeat on Super Tuesday and subsequent suspension of her campaign was “to be expected” as “she had waged a campaign on the idea that you can somehow win the Republican nomination for president by getting the votes of mostly just non-Republicans, and that just doesn’t work.”

He added, “We saw that play out in Iowa and I said at the time that she didn’t have a pathway, so I’m glad we’re all through that process and, you know, now we’re in a situation where Republicans are staring down the barrel of a President Biden who’s clearly not up to the job.”

Asked about Haley’s refusal to endorse Trump, despite pledging during the Republican presidential debates that she would if the 2024 election came down to Trump versus Biden, DeSantis said:

I signed the pledge and you sign the pledge saying that you’re gonna not take your ball and go home, and so I honored the pledge and she’s gonna have to make a decision about whether she wants to or not, but the idea that somehow circumstances have changed, I think we all knew what we were doing when we did that, and you gotta make a judgement about whether that’s meaningful to you.

The governor concluded, “For me, I tell people, you know, if I say I’m gonna do something, I’m gonna do it.”

Haley not only signed a pledge stating she would support the eventual Republican nominee, but also raised her hand during a debate in August after candidates were asked if they would still support Trump even if he was “convicted in a court of law.”

However, in recent months, Haley has attempted to backtrack.

Unlike DeSantis, who immediately endorsed Trump after dropping out the race, Haley refused to say whether she would support the former president against President Joe Biden in 2024.

“It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him,” said Haley in her campaign suspension speech. “I hope he does that.”

In an interview on Sunday, Haley shrugged off the Republican National Committee pledge, telling NBC News, “At the time of the debate, we had to take it… In order to get on that debate stage.”

She concluded, “I think I’ll make what decision I make.”

Watch above via Newsmax.

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