Nikki Haley says she's staying in the race for the White House — declaring in a new interview that she's "weakening" front-runner Donald Trump, and drawing more people into the GOP.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal posted Friday, Haley remained undaunted by the former president's commanding lead — and pressure from her own party to drop out — while continuing to hammer at Trump's faults and woo swing voters, the outlet reported.
"I'm weakening Trump because of who Trump is," she told the outlet. "Telling the truth in a primary is very important, so that's what I'm doing."
"I'm going to win," she added, and "I'm strengthening the party because I bring more people into the Republican Party, instead of pushing people away like Trump."
Her anti-Trump donors' money is helping fuel her run, the Journal has reported. And hitting hard at Trump is unlikely to hurt any future success in corporate America, according to the Journal.
Though lagging behind Trump for her home state's Feb. 24 primary, she will stay the course for Super Tuesday on March 5, and scoffs at demands that she drop out, pointing to polls showing 7 in 10 Americans want an option other than Trump versus President Joe Biden.
"The fact that we would have a coronation after two months is absurd," she told the Journal. "The country needs to pay attention to those 70% of Americans and not the media, who are trying to say this is going to be Trump and Biden."
Haley says Trump won't be able to win enough independent voters and suburban women for a November victory.
"By nature, I think women look for authenticity," she told the Journal. "They look for someone who is genuine, and they look for someone who is honest, and they don't feel like he represents someone they want their kids to look at.
"I think parents in general are not comfortable with his behavior."
According to the Journal, Haley's strength among suburban and independent voters is why she does better than Trump in hypothetical matchups against Biden. A Journal poll had her beating Biden by 17 percentage points.
The more Trump tries to bully her out of the race, she says, the harder she will fight.
"I've never let anyone bully me, and I've never let anyone intimidate me," she told the Journal. "The more they do it, the more it motivates me."
Haley conceded however, that "there are some things that have been politicized against [Trump], and it clouds it because you don't know what's real and what's not. What I do know is from his own mouth he's said he's going to be spending more time in a courtroom than he is on the campaign trail."
But if she loses the White House bid, she won't run as an independent, either.
"I'm a Republican," she said. "A Republican primary is where Republicans run."
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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