(Headline USA) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis blasted fellow ex-GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley for not endorsing former President Donald Trump this week after she dropped out of the primary race.
Pointing out that Haley signed the same Republican National Committee loyalty pledge that he did, promising to endorse the party’s eventual nominee, DeSantis argued she owes it to the party to unify behind the clear primary winner.
“I signed the pledge, and you signed the pledge saying that you’re gonna not take your ball and go home,” DeSantis told Newsmax’s Eric Bolling. “And so, I honored the pledge, and she’s gonna have to make a decision about whether she wants to or not.”
The pledge was a condition for those participating in the RNC debates, although Trump himself prominently balked at both the pledge and participation in the debates, rightfully arguing that they were beneath him.
DeSantis endorsed Trump immediately after suspending his own presidential campaign last month.
Haley admitted before dropping out of the race that she no longer felt bound by the RNC oath and that she had not decided whether she’d back Trump.
“At the time of the debate, we had to take it,” she said of the pledge. “I think I’ll make what decision I want to make, but that’s not something I’m thinking about.”
But DeSantis said Haley should be true to her commitment.
“The idea that somehow circumstances have changed … I think we all knew what we were doing when we did that, and you’ve got to make a judgment about whether that’s meaningful to you,” he said. “And so, for me, I tell people, you know, if I say I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it.”
With Trump limited to one remaining term, the two leading also-rans, who frequently squared off in the debates and sought to contrast their ideas against one another, are likely to face each other again in 2028.
A top Haley surrogate, Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., hinted on Wednesday that Haley—whom Trump had dubbed “Birdbrain” in recent weeks—eventually announce her endorsement. “At the end of the day, she will come on board.”
But all Haley has said thus far of the former president is that he must “earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him.”
