Pat Robertson picks Nikki Haley over Trump for 2024 GOP presidential nomination

Nikki Haley

The televangelist says Kamala Harris will become president “not too long after” Biden’s inauguration.

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Evangelical leader Pat Robertson has picked former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley over President Donald Trump as the Republican leader best-placed to become the torchbearer of conservatives in 2024.

“My money would be on Nikki Haley,” the televangelist said on his show “700 Club” on Monday. “I think she’d make a tremendous candidate for the Republican Party.”

The 90-year old termed the chatter about another potential Trump run in 2024 a “sideshow.”

“I think it’s a sideshow,” Robertson said on the show, aired daily on Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), the network he founded 60 years ago.

Indian American Haley is considered one of the front-runners for the Republican nomination, if Trump doesn’t run again. The former South Carolina governor has not concealed her intention to run for the highest office of the land.

As the UN ambassador, she worked hard to raise her profile globally making use of the platform the world body presented.

However, she left the administration at the end of 2018, less than half way into Trump’s term. Some considered her departure as an effort to preserve her political brand with Trump mired in a series of scandals. At the same time, like a number of other Republican 2024 hopefuls, she was careful in not antagonizing Trump.

In March 2019, she launched the advocacy group “Stand for America”, with the goal of promoting public policies that would “strengthen America’s economy, culture, and national security.” It’s standard practice for leaders considering running for president to launch such policy shops.

On the opening night of the Republican National Convention in August, Haley was one of the star speakers. Daughter of Indian Sikh immigrant parents, she forcefully defended Trump and America from charges of racism. America is not racist country and only Trump can save it from falling “apart in anarchy and anger,” she said.

“This is personal for me. I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants,” she said. “They came to America and settled in a small southern town.”

At the beginning of the year, Politico called her one of the 2024 frontrunners, saying that “she has one the best résumés in the Republican Party.” It wrote, “[She] is a rare woman of color in a party that struggles mightily to win the votes of women and minorities.”

If Haley does indeed get the Republican nomination, she might be going up against another Indian American woman. On the Democratic side, if Biden decides to not pursue a second term, Kamala Harris will be a favorite to secure the Democratic nomination.

In fact, Robertson predicted that Harris will end up replacing Biden after the inauguration. “I also think we’ll be seeing as President Kamala Harris not too long after the inauguration of President Biden. Just keep your eyes on the future,” he said.

Breaking ranks with many Trump-supporting Republican and evangelical leaders, Robertson said the president lives in “an alternative reality.”

“With all his talent and ability to raise money and draw large crowds, the President still lives in an alternate reality,” Robertson said. “He really does. People say, ‘Well he lies about this, that and the other.’ But he isn’t lying. To him, that’s the truth.”

The televangelist’s position, which was first reported by CNN, that Trump should not run for nomination again might not go well with legions of Trump supporters.

Robertson, an anonymously influential Christian leader, said he had prayed for Trump’s victory in 2020, but now that the Electoral College has picked Biden, Trump should move on.

“I think it’s all over. I think the Electoral College has spoken. I think the Biden corruption has not totally been brought to fruition, but it doesn’t seem to be affecting the Electoral College and I don’t think the Supreme Court is going to move in to do anything and I think we’re going to see a President (Joe) Biden.”

READ MORE:

Nikki Haley slams Biden’s immigration policies (December 2, 2020)

Nikki Haley wants diaspora to get involved in American politics (September 2, 2020)

Nikki Haley bats for Trump; asserts America is not racist (August 25, 2020)

For Nikki Haley, new year begins with a new Twitter account (January 2, 2019)

Nikki Haley: ‘I’m not white. I’m Indian American. Don’t ever judge or assume.’ (May 20, 2018)

Nikki Haley says Trump affair rumor is ‘highly offensive,’ ‘disgusting’ (January 26, 2018)

Wolff’s book: Nikki Haley, who’s ‘ambitious as Lucifer,’ is positioning to be Trump’s heir apparent (January 6, 2018)