will go where the political wind blows, and they re fine with that. if you are and nikki haley, or a ron desantis, it gets harder to be in this sanctimonious place, and say, well, he isn t pure enough on this issue. the voters have basically said, that s his authenticity. this is a very real issue for these candidates. they cannot undermine the flip-flopping, which voters see is authenticity. transactional-ism has become authenticity for him. a lot of voters are cynical about politicians anyway, and they like the trump admits to transactionalist, where they don t think the other politicians will admit it, and that is where he scored s on, the authenticity. he will tell you on the truth, even if it makes him look like a flip-flop or on something. we are going to take a short break, but just ahead, we touched on this a moment ago, more on what chris christie s decision for ending his presidential campaign means for this race.
obviously, he s the most vocal supporter of nikki haley, it was prominent, someone who is instrumental in getting her over the edge in new hampshire. for him to go up and go full never trump, go full chris christie, could be harmful to nikki haley. i will read into this as a strategic calculation. fundamentally, what i think was missed in that conversation, and i know governor sununu knows, is there is a portion of the republican party that is caring about the conversation around trump s character, and around his fitness. it is not where the basis, but we are a party where you need to turn out not just the base to win the elections. to win a general election, the idea that you would run a convicted felon against biden, purely to be joe biden? what does that say about our party? i m assuming, this is a tactic. i ve heard it from other politicians in this game, but i think the public is just not there. i m more cynical. i think the governor sununu knows that nikki haley, maybe
but slightly different, he was his own person. he was personable. he had his own message. it s interesting to wonder, what is the alternate universe where that guy shows up, starting in january, when trump s poll numbers were a little lower? republicans are still reeling from a tough, mid term, election. it s interesting to wonder about this. nikki haley, her problem tonight, is that she will be a new generation of republican. her adversaries in the party say, there is nothing new about what you are doing. what you are doing is back to the future. what you are doing is a return to the past of a republican party that does not exist. i think rather than her drive this narrative of new generation of leadership, over, and over, and over again, that is the message disciplined you need, not, here is a website, over and over, and that s where she failed. the debate had strong 2016 vibes in the hopes of donald trump would fall away, and one would be able to make that more. in a moment, we h