Donald Trump’s son says he’ll go to ‘great lengths’ to make sure dad doesn’t pick ‘puppet’ Nikki Haley as running mate: ‘She’s the new favorite candidate of the billionaire class because they want control’

Donald Trump Jr. has said he will do everything possible to prevent his father from choosing Nikki Haley as his running mate. He describes her as an establishment stooge who would undermine Trump from his team and calls her “the billionaire's new favorite candidate.” class.'

Trump Jr. was asked by Newsmax host Eric Bolling whether his 77-year-old billionaire father would consider naming Haley, 51, as his vice presidential running mate.

Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, served as Trump's ambassador to the United Nations and is widely seen as having successfully kept MAGA Republicans on side while appealing to a broader base.

A poll taken shortly before Christmas in New Hampshire showed Haley trailing Trump by just four points, easily overtaking the initial frontrunner, Ron DeSantis.

But when Trump Jr. asked if Haley was running on his father's ticket, he replied, “I wouldn't want her.”

Trump Jr. continued: “I would do everything I can to make sure that doesn't happen.

'Nikki Haley wants endless wars. She is a puppet of the Washington, DC establishment. She is the new favorite candidate of the billionaire class – because they want control; no different than academia and Harvard.”

Trump Jr. said Haley's rise was due to DeSantis' faltering campaign.

“Ron DeSantis has proven that he doesn't have what it takes to stand on that stage,” Trump Jr. said.

'He embarrassed himself so much. She is now the preferred candidate.'

And Trump Jr., widely seen as the most politically interested of Trump's five children, warned that she would not be an asset to their team's internal dynamics.

“All you get is her trying to destroy Donald Trump from within forever,” he said. “The second she got that anointing, it would be a disaster of epic proportions.”

None of the candidates have yet announced their running mates, because the primaries are still to come.

Trump has teased several names, including Tucker Carlson.

However, Haley would certainly broaden the appeal of Trump's platform.

In a poll of New Hampshire voters just before Christmas, Haley was chosen by 29 percent of likely Republican voters in the American Research Group survey.

Trump received 33 percent of the support.

“Granite Staters are ready for a new generation of conservative leadership,” said Haley spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas.

“As Nikki continues to rise, it is clear that this is a two-person race between Nikki and Donald Trump and we look forward to debating him one-on-one.”

Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, came in third with 13 percent of support, beating Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who was chosen by just six percent of those polled.

DeSantis is still the second-ranked candidate to Trump nationally, but his candidacy has disappointed many who expected him to easily defeat Trump.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the entrepreneur and political newcomer who burned brightly but has succumbed to intense scrutiny, came fifth with just 5 percent of support.

The pollsters spoke to 361 Republicans and 239 unreported voters between December 14 and 20.

The poll matches Haley's steady rise since early fall, helped by a strong performance in the primary debates and some major endorsements.

Her campaign was pleased to receive the support of four-time New Hampshire Governor, the widely beloved Chris Sununu.

Christie is facing calls to resign and allow his supporters to support Haley, but he shows no signs of wanting to do so.

Sununu said Christie had to “pave the way” for Haley and said she was the best-placed candidate to beat Trump.

“I support Nikki Haley,” Sununu said when asked whether the former New Jersey governor should drop out.

“I think they all need to come clean, including former President Trump. I think everyone needs to clear the way.”

But Christie insisted his candidacy was still strong.

“I'm not going anywhere, so let's be very clear about that,” he said.

He added that it was not Sununu's job “to tell anyone when to get out.”

The election comes as candidates vie for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in 2024. Iowa is in first place for Republicans, followed by the New Hampshire primary.

Biden continues to lag in the polls and approval ratings, including a new survey that showed he would lose to both Trump and Haley in the general election.

If the general election were to happen today — and it were a rematch between Trump and Biden — 50 percent of voters say they would vote for the former president, while 46 percent prefer the current president.

Meanwhile, Haley holds 49 percent, compared to Biden's support of 43 percent.

Having two Republican candidates ahead of Biden, and outside the 3 percentage point margin of error, is worrying for Democrats as voters are already expressing increasing concerns about the president's age and fitness for office.

The survey was conducted among 1,007 registered voters between December 10 and 13.

The latest results follow polls from last week that show Biden also trailing Trump in seven key swing states crucial to victory in the 2024 election.

Nearly 5,000 voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Nevada reveal that the ex-president could again flip states that went against him in 2020.

Although the swing states are vastly different – ​​in terms of class, racial demographics and political preferences – they have one thing in common heading into the next presidential election; they all prefer Trump to Biden.

On average, 47 percent of voters in battleground states would cast their vote for Trump if a general election were held against Biden today, compared to the president's support of 42 percent, according to a Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll released Thursday.