Former GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley says Democratic leaders will finally ditch President Biden and replace him with a “younger” more “vibrant” candidate after last week’s train-wreck debate.
Haley told the Wall Street Journal in a weekend interview that Republicans had better get ready for a new presidential foe, echoing her well-worn insistence during the 2024 GOP primary that Biden would not be the Dem nominee.
“They are going to be smart about it: They’re going to bring somebody younger, they’re going to bring somebody vibrant, they’re going to bring somebody tested,” said Haley, 52.
“This is a time for Republicans to prepare and get ready for what’s to come because there is no way that there will be a surviving Democratic Party if they allow Joe Biden to continue to be the candidate,” she said.
Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and onetime US ambassador to the UN, had sought to impress upon her fellow Republicans during the 2024 GOP presidential primary that former President Donald Trump would fare weaker against the eventual Dem nod than she would.
Despite a bitter campaign between the two, Haley later backed Trump, the overwhelmingly presumptive GOP nominee, while the Biden camp tried to peel off her block of skeptical GOP voters.
Trembles of fear rocked Democrats inside and outside the Beltway after a feeble-appearing Biden mumbled his way through Thursday’s CNN debate against Trump at times and stared blankly off into space.
Some Dems have urged the party to reconsider him as standard bearer, fearing that he’s doomed to lose to Trump because of voters’ apprehension over his age.
In fact, 72% of registered voters do not believe that President Biden has the “mental and cognitive health necessary to serve as president,” a new CBS News/YouGov poll found.
Among Democratic voters, 41% don’t believe that Biden is up to the job compared to 59% who do, according to the poll.
Biden’s team has flatly denied any notion that he would drop out from the race.
The president himself appeared to publicly concede that the debate was not his strongest showing but stressed that he would not be running for reelection if he didn’t think he could swing it.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison was adamant after the debate that “we’re still riding with Biden,” and the Biden campaign put out a memo contending that re-topping the ticket would bode poorly.
But Haley later wrote on X, “America deserves the strongest leader possible.
“Thursday night was shocking. It’s exactly why I have been calling for mental competency tests for anyone running for office. Joe Biden owes the American people transparency about his cognitive abilities.”
Haley, who served as Trump’s ambassador to the UN from 2017 to 2018, revealed to the Journal that she had a “good conversation” with her former boss about a week ago.
Trump has publicly mused that Democrats may replace Biden at the top of the ticket.
Both he and Biden are slated to square off in another debate hosted by CBS on Sept. 10. Biden’s team insists he will still partake in it.
