Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican presidential candidate, along with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, expressed their disapproval of 2024 GOP candidate Nikki Haley’s firm positions on the war and labeled her as a mere “puppet” of the political establishment in Washington.
During an interview with Ramaswamy, Carlson strongly criticized Haley, comparing her to Democratic donors. He specifically highlighted Haley’s unwavering support for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia and Israel in its conflict with Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group that governs the Gaza Strip.
“If you’re a Democratic mega-donor, this is a very tough moment for you. Your candidate is going to lose,” Carlson said, referring to President Joe Biden’s poor polling performance in recent months.
“So what do you do? Well, if you’re smart, maybe you subvert the other party. Maybe you back a Republican candidate who’s a Democrat and whose priorities are identical to yours. And of course, they found one: Her name is Nikki Haley,” Carlson said, pointing to her purported support for “endless neocon wars.”
“Strip away all the outward characteristics, and Nikki Haley is identical in her priorities to Joe Biden and the people who back Joe Biden,” he added.
Ramaswamy contended that the bipartisan support Haley was receiving, which included Republicans from the Bush-Cheney era, contradicted Carlson’s claim that it was primarily Democratic. Consequently, Ramaswamy aligned with Carlson’s conclusion, asserting that these individuals were attempting to overthrow Trump by manipulating Haley.
“I think the true puppet masters, the thing about them, is they’re fundamentally nonpartisan in nature,” Ramaswamy said. “There are a few things they care about: Keeping the foreign war machine humming is high on the list. Keeping the administrative state’s control of the United States is also high on the list. They found a much more convenient puppet within the Republican Party itself.”
“It’s not Biden, and it’s not even Gavin Newsom. It’s Nikki Haley within the Republican Party itself,” he continued. “And I think that that makes for a very convenient frontman because then they have absolved themselves from any allegations of partisanship or Democratic partisanship against Donald Trump.”
In December, Carlson raised concerns about rumors suggesting that Trump might contemplate selecting Haley as his potential running mate.
As per CBS News sources, Trump has been seeking opinions from his allies and advisors regarding the possibility of Nikki Haley being a vice presidential candidate. Haley, who previously served as the governor of South Carolina and as his UN ambassador, was the first to announce her candidacy for the GOP nomination after Trump had unequivocally expressed his intentions to run for months.
“The feedback from the MAGA crowd regarding putting Haley on the ticket if Trump wins the GOP nomination has been overwhelmingly negative, according to these GOP sources. Politico first reported that Trump allies are working to quash the possibility of a Trump-Haley ticket,” CBS reported.
During a live discussion hosted by “Timcast” podcaster Tim Pool at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest, the host asked Carlson, “Would you vote for Trump if he chose Nikki as VP?”
Carlson responded: “I would not only not vote for that ticket, I would advocate against it as strongly as I could.”
“That’s just poison. I mean, here’s someone who’s actively opposed to the interests of the country I grew up in, who endorsed the BLM riots, and who is not left but is neoliberal in the darkest, most – speaking of nihilist – nihilistic way, and has no real popular support, is a creature of the oligarchs,” he continued. “So yeah, that would be– that would be a reason to oppose the ticket.
Tucker says he would 'advocate against' Trump election if he picks Haley has his running mate. pic.twitter.com/u2EVgmHXb3
— USA Features Media (@UsaFeatures) December 19, 2023