- Former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon warned Donald Trump against choosing 2024 hopeful Nikki Haley as his running mate
- Said the 2024 hopeful would try to wield too much power as vice president
- Also claimed that Trump would ultimately “fail” if Haley campaigned with him
The Republican Party could fall apart even further if former President Donald Trump ends up with the same fate as Nikki Haley, Steve Bannon has warned.
The former chief White House strategist under Trump said Haley, Trump's UN ambassador, is a “viper” – and claimed she would run the country like “Dick Cheney for Bush”.
Bannon, a top conservative media personality, is now warning his former boss against tapping Haley as his vice president on the 2024 ticket.
Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, is gaining ground among Republican voters — especially in New Hampshire, where Republican voters are more moderate than in deep-red Iowa.
Former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon warned Donald Trump against choosing 2024 hopeful Nikki Haley as his running mate because she is a 'viper'
Some of the latest polling in New Hampshire has Haley trailing Trump by just four percentage points, showing huge gains in a state where the ex-president was winning by 40-50 percent on some issues.
Amid Haley's increased popularity, some have floated the idea that she would run for Trump as vice president if he wins the nomination, which still seems the most likely outcome of the primaries.
But Bannon says this could spell disaster for Republicans, claiming the bid will ultimately “fail.”
“We're going to have a big fight that's going to happen in the spring, they're going to try to force Nikki Haley onto the ticket,” Bannon told Jack Posobiec, editor-in-chief of the conservative news site Human Events.
“They'll say Trump needs a wife. Nikki on the card. She balances things out and can bring together that 15 percent of Never Trumpers in the Republican Party,” Bannon said of how people will try to make the case for Haley's candidacy.
“We're going to have to fight that fight.”
Bannon claims that if Haley were to succeed in becoming Trump's No. 2, he would try to run the government from behind the scenes and wield too much power.
“If Nikki Haley is in this administration in any capacity, it will fail. She's a viper. She's a viper. And once she gets in there, she will try to run it as Prime Minister. She'll try to be Dick Cheney. Hair for Trump will be like Dick Cheney for Bush,” said Bannon, host of the War Room podcast.
This raises speculation from critics who claim that former Vice President Dick Cheney led a shadow government, while former President George W. Bush was more of a figurehead.
Cheney was called “the most powerful vice president we ever had” by Joel Goldstein, author of the 1982 book The Modern American Vice Presidency.
This isn't the first time Haley has been compared to Cheney.
Vivek Ramaswamy called his 2024 competitor “Dick Cheney is a three-inch heel” during the Republican presidential debate in Miami, Florida in November.
Trump's eldest son, pundit and onetime White House adviser Donald Trump Jr., said he would “go to any lengths to ensure” Haley does not join his father's campaign.
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson also told conservative political commentator Tim Pool in December regarding a Trump-Haley ticket, “I would argue against it as strongly as I could.”
Haley is preparing for one more debate before the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15, where she will face Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is in second place in the first primary state.
In addition, the Haley campaign and SFA Fund Inc., which is backing her candidacy, plan to spend a combined $4.6 million on advertising in Iowa between Jan. 1 and the Jan. 15 caucuses.