Nikki Haley Is Very Mad About ‘Haley Voters for Harris’

Barf Bag: The failed presidential candidate didn't appear to be upset when the group was named Haley Voters for Biden. Huh!

By Susan Rinkunas  |  July 26, 2024 | 4:44pm
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Nikki Haley Is Very Mad About ‘Haley Voters for Harris’

Welcome back to Barf Bag. 

Former South Carolina Governor and failed presidential candidate Nikki Haley truly can’t stop embarrassing herself. Not only did she endorse Donald Trump and release her delegates to vote for him after saying he wasn’t fit to lead the country, but now she’s throwing a hissy fit over her former supporters mobilizing for Vice President Kamala Harris.

After President Joe Biden bowed out of the presidential race on Sunday, a campaign of the anti-Trump PivotPAC that was previously known as Haley Voters for Biden rebranded itself as Haley Voters for Harris (HV4H). Makes sense!

But on Tuesday, a law firm repping Haley’s campaign sent a deranged “cease and desist” letter to the group demanding that they halt “any unlawful use of Ambassador Haley’s name in your political action committee name, and from any use of her name, image or likeness that implies her support for the election of Kamala Harris as President of the United States.” Haley herself said in a statement: “Kamala Harris and I are total opposites on every issue. Any attempt to use my name to support her or her agenda is deceptive and wrong. I support Donald Trump because he understands we need to make America strong, safe, and prosperous.”

Ma’am, the name of the group is Haley voters—no reasonable person thinks it means you support Harris.

After news of the letter broke, HV4H said in a statement on Twitter that they’ve never claimed to represent Haley or her views. “Our rights to engage with voters and encourage them to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris—who in our view is the clear better choice for the country—will not be suppressed,” they wrote on Tuesday. The group’s founder told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “We are Haley voters, and we are for Harris, so we’re just calling ourselves by what we are. It’s a simple statement of English fact.”

The group followed up on Thursday by announcing that it had formally responded to the letter, adding “We will neither cease nor desist.”

Interestingly, it doesn’t appear that Haley sent any legal action letters to the group when it was named Haley Voters for Biden. Perhaps she’s taking these recent developments especially personally because she hoped to be the first major-party nominee of South Asian descent and the first woman president??

Haley has repeatedly made the point that Trump would lose to Harris. She said on Fox News earlier this year that, if Trump was the nominee, “we will see a President Kamala Harris.” At the time, she was trying to get people to vote for her in the primaries instead of Trump, but that clearly didn’t work out. The Harris campaign rapid response account tweeted Haley’s comment on Monday morning before this whole dustup started.

Anyway, sucks to suck!

  • Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts, the architect of Project 2025, has close ties to a far-right Catholic group called Opus Dei. The group doesn’t believe in the separation of church and state. [The Guardian]
  • Speaking of Roberts, as Trump tries to distance himself from Project 2025, he has a little problem: his running mate, J.D. Vance, wrote the foreword for Roberts’ forthcoming book. [HuffPost]
  • Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) fell for a social media hoax claiming that former President Jimmy Carter had died. (Carter is still alive.) The fake letter quoted Carter as calling his late wife Rosalynn a “baddie” who “throat goat Nancy Reagan had nothing on.” [Business Insider]
  • A white Trump supporter named Joey Mannarino tweeted that he was a Black woman who would vote for Trump over Harris. He blamed the apparent impersonation fail on his account being logged into on his friend’s phone. Sure, Jan. [Daily Dot]
  • Trump’s nephew Fred alleges in a new book that when he called to ask for more money to care for his disabled son, the now-GOP nominee said he should let him die because “he doesn’t recognize you.” [The Guardian]
  • Spoiler presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. proposed creating government “wellness farms” for people “addicted” to antidepressants and ADHD medications, as well as illicit drugs. Personally, I think universal healthcare would be a better use of money. [Mother Jones]
  • RFK also reportedly tried to barter an endorsement of Trump in exchange for a senior role in charge of “a portfolio of health and medical issues” should Trump win. The campaign at least had the sense to reject him. [Washington Post]
  • Melania Trump is writing a memoir due out this fall. Her office says it will tell the story of a woman who’s “carved her own path, overcome adversity and defined personal excellence.” Sounds like we’re thinking of different people. [Associated Press]

This has been your weekly Barf Bag, thanks for reading! 

 
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