Nikki Haley got rave reviews on her performance in the third Republican presidential debate ― but Laura Ingraham was troubled by where some of the praise came from: mainstream media. (Watch the video below.)
“Well, it’s nice to get good press. I do get that,” the Fox News host said. “But politically, this is suicide for Nikki Haley. There’s no future in the Republican Party for someone who’s been endorsed by Politico and The New York Times. So Nikki Haley can be a media hero or she can be a leader in the GOP, but she cannot be both.”
While Haley was not officially endorsed by the Times, Opinion section writers there did compliment her with the headline, “She Certainly Beat All The Boys.
“Crisp and confident. She refused to let her opponents’ attacks go unanswered,” one wrote. “Neoconservatism made its comeback tonight, and Nikki Haley led the charge,” another said, calling the former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor “sensible and realistic on abortion” while consistently “hawkish” on foreign relations.
Ingraham was apparently not impressed.
“So if Nikki Haley wants to win GOP support, she has to explain how she’s just not the second coming of the Bushes and Liz Cheney,” Ingraham said.
The right-wing host challenged Haley to “travel to a battleground state and then pick a fight over a cause that actually makes the media mad. How about that?”
Politico complimented Haley’s ability to articulate her policies, attack rivals and “deliver headline-making lines.”
Despite Haley’s showing, the GOP race for president remains essentially a one-person race. Former President Donald Trump averaged a lead in the dozens of points over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Haley.