The establishment and illiberal donor class are working behind the scenes of the GOP New Hampshire primary to encourage Democrats and left-leaning independents to cast anti-Trump votes for former South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley.
New Hampshire voters have until Friday to change their registration affiliation to vote in an alternative party’s primary.
As a darling of the establishment, Haley opposes the America First agenda due to her views on foreign policy, free speech, government spending, and social policy:
- She stated “every person on social media should be verified by their name.”
- She believes in defending Ukraine’s eastern border with American taxpayer funds.
- She said the government should not intervene if parents decide to put their children through irreversible, life-altering “transgender” surgery.
- She supports importing migrants for jobs that would otherwise go to better-paid Americans.
Many of Haley’s policies are shared by the establishment globalists, who oppose Trump’s return to the White House. Robert Schwartz, the co-founder of Primary Pivot super PAC and member of the establishment, seeks to “damage” Trump’s campaign by mobilizing Democrats and left-leaning independents to vote for Haley.
Schwartz’s super PAC sent 150,000 direct mail pieces to push anti-Trump voters to “protect our democracy.” Schwartz also raised $650,000 over the last month to spend on anti-Trump messaging. “We are seeking to damage Donald Trump because we believe he’s an existential threat to democracy,” Schwartz told NPR.
Schwartz admitted that stopping Trump from winning a lion’s share of the New Hampshire vote is unlikely, but, he said, increasing Haley’s turnout might outperform Trump’s vote total. “We’re not going to stop Trump from getting probably 130,000 votes here,” Schwartz told Semafor. “The only way you beat him is by changing the denominator.”
Schwartz’s PAC is just one organization targeting Trump. Additional anti-Trump PACs include “Tell It Like It Is” and “Granite State Votes,” both of which are working overtime to defeat the former president.
New Hampshire’s top elections official, Secretary of State David Scanlan, said he can see Schwartz’s plan in action on the ground. “I am aware of the efforts that are taking place, because I’ve been getting the mailers and the text messages, personally,” he told NHPR. “You hear of this sort of thing being done, but this is certainly by far the most organized that I’ve seen such efforts.”
Democrats and some Republicans doubt the anti-Trump effort will succeed. Jeff Weaver, a strategist for Biden challenger Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), said Trump’s massive success in Iowa should convince left-leaning independents to leave the GOP primary up to Republican voters. It is “almost inevitable that Trump is going to be the nominee,” he said.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R), a Haley supporter, downplayed his expectations for Haley’s election result. “We always wanted to have a strong second. That’s the only expectation we ever laid out there,” he told ABC News on Wednesday.
Sununu’s comments are a dramatic shift from previous statements. “I think she wins here in New Hampshire,” he claimed. “Nikki Haley can … give Trump that defeat that no one thought was possible in the next few weeks. And I think that’s very likely to happen.”
Thursday polling appeared to confirm Sununu’s diminished expectations. Trump leads Haley by 14 points with 50 percent support. Only six percent supported Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), Suffolk’s New Hampshire tracking poll found.
WATCH — DeSantis: Nikki Haley Invited Disney to South Carolina, Even Though They Were “Trans-ing Kids”
CNN
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
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