‘a Lot Of Bad Blood’: Donald Trump Still Isn’t Reaching Out To Nikki Haley

When Nikki Haley exited the presidential race earlier this month, she issued what sounded like an ultimatum: Donald Trump needed to “earn the votes of those who did not support him,” and it was “now his time for choosing.”

So far, Trump hasn’t chosen to do much for the sake of reconciliation after calling for the party to come together. In fact, he hasn’t reached out to Haley or some of her top allies at all.

Art Pope would know. The former chair of Americans for Prosperity, the anti-Trump Republican outfit that boosted Haley in the primary, and a top GOP donor who backed Haley himself, told POLITICO the Trump campaign hasn’t reached out to him.

It’s been less than two weeks since Haley dropped out. But the lack of contact is indicative of rifts that persist even after Trump officially became the presumptive nominee this week. Trump beat Haley decisively. But the voters who supported her include whole swaths of Trump-averse conservatives who have suggested they may not throw their votes to him in the fall, a liability for the former president.

And it isn’t just Haley supporters who Trump may have difficulties with. On Friday, former Vice President Mike Pence told Fox News he will not endorse Trump this year. And former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, another failed Republican primary rival, is still criticizing him.

But it’s Haley who lasted the longest in the primary — and consolidated the non-Trump vote through Super Tuesday. A Trump adviser granted anonymity to speak freely confirmed the former president has made no outreach to her.

“I know he’s reached out to some and others he’s not,” Pope said. “But as far as the message he’s sending in his public comments and his interviews and his rallies, he has not been very conciliatory, and on the positions and on the issues, he’s doubling down, like on his proposal for the largest tax increase ever proposed by a Republican candidate for president with his tariff tax.”

Pope is currently undecided and is watching who Trump will pick as his running mate. He said the new Republican National Committee chair and fellow North Carolinian Michael Whatley has made a personal plea to him to back Trump. But Pope said he wants to evaluate the “tone” of the Republican National Convention.

Among at least some Haley backers, Pope’s position is not unique. Their warning is that Trump’s scorched-earth approach in the primary — and lack of outreach after — could be problematic for him come November.

“At the end of the day, it’s just hubris and this belief that no matter what, they’ve got this, and they don’t need Nikki’s voters,” said a top Haley donor, who was granted anonymity to speak freely. “I think this is all going to end badly [in the general] and Haley will have proven to be correct. Everybody is going to deserve what they get here.”

“People that want to go and play in that swamp can go and do that,” the donor said.

Trump is leading President Joe Biden in national polling averages despite sore feelings lingering from the primary. But his lead — about 2 percentage points — is hardly a safe one, and in a close election, shedding support from any faction of conservative-leaning voters could have consequences at the margins.

And Haley’s support is not inconsequential. Earlier this week in the GOP primary in Georgia, a crucial general election state, Haley won 13 percent of the primary vote, driven mostly by early voters who cast ballots before she dropped out of the race. And she beat Trump by more than 17,800 votes across Georgia from voters who voted on Election Day — about 6 percent of the statewide Election Day total. That’s despite her having ended her candidacy, suggesting a lingering protest against Trump.

Trump’s allies maintain that some of Haley’s support came from “Never Trump” and Democratic voters who were never in play for Trump and, eventually, Republicans will come home much as they did in 2016. They point to general election polls, as well as recent gains among Black and Hispanic voters, as evidence that he has the support he needs to win the White House. And they note the recent endorsements from some of Trump’s biggest Republican critics, including Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell and South Dakota Sen. John Thune.

“In this business it’s all about addition and not subtraction,” said a Trump adviser granted anonymity to speak freely. “We wouldn’t turn away any chance to get more votes and expand the tent. We aren’t saying no to people and we never would, that would never be a strategy on our part.”

However, the adviser added, “It is incumbent on her and her team to try not to be negative against Trump even after they’ve dropped out. ... If she endorsed Trump, or actually said some nice things about the party, it would go a long way.”

Trump’s campaign has bristled at the public criticism from former Haley campaign officials on X, formerly Twitter, although Trump himself has continued to pick on Haley. This week, he shared an opinion piece on Truth Social titled, “Nikki Haley Fades to Irrelevance.”

But the adviser said, “I’m sure things will work out and will be fine, but there is a lot of bad blood stemming from the last two months."

Another senior Trump adviser granted anonymity to speak freely said that Haley backers reached out to the Trump campaign after her decision to drop out, although they would not provide any details. Trump threatened to ban Haley donors from coming on board after she refused to drop out after the New Hampshire primary.

A spokesperson for Haley declined to comment.

Andy Sabin, a top Republican donor who supported Haley, said he will be supporting Trump, and he encouraged Haley to do the same.

“She should endorse him just for the fact that she is keeping her word, and if she cares about the party and doesn’t want to take a chance of Kamala Harris being president she should endorse Trump,” Sabin said.

But Sabin wished Trump would make it easy.

“I think Trump should reach out,” he said. “But I think that’s hard for him to do. He should call on her to unite and tell her she ran a nice campaign, but it’s time we worked together against our common enemy, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.”

He said, “It would be wonderful if he could show some maturity.”

Jessica Piper contributed to this report.