Politics
How Nikki Haley burned bridges in South Carolina–and still pulls punches against Trump
Nikki Haley says she’s staying in the presidential race at least until Super Tuesday, though most of the media now deem the primary over and done with.
While Donald Trump’s media detractors have found new lines of attack, they can’t deny that his big wins in Iowa and New Hampshire have practically given him a headlock on the nomination.
But the biggest roadblock in her path is her own home state.
AS TRUMP EASILY BEATS HALEY IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, SHE VOWS TO STAY IN THE RACE
How is it that a former two-term governor is trailing Trump by 20 to 30 points?
The Trump juggernaut seems close to unstoppable. This Saturday’s Democratic primary in South Carolina (bold prediction: Joe Biden will win) will draw any potential party-switchers away from the GOP contest.
And the Republican Party, transformed by Trump, is much more conservative in her state than when Haley left office in 2017.
Even Haley, Trump’s former U.N. ambassador, isn’t predicting victory. She says she simply needs to do better than the 43 percent she won in New Hampshire’s open primary. That’s a tall order.
Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the United Nations and 2024 Republican presidential candidate, during a campaign event in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. (Adam Glanzman/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
But there’s an even deeper reality hurting Haley, according to some digging in South Carolina by two veteran New York Times reporters. All this came out during her years as governor, but is new to a national audience.
There’s a reason, says the piece, that the governor, Henry McMaster, who had been her lieutenant governor, has endorsed Trump. And the House backbencher who she picked for senator, Tim Scott, has endorsed Trump. And the congresswoman whose career was threatened in 2022 until Haley endorsed her, Nancy Mace, has endorsed Trump.
Haley said last week that South Carolina lawmakers had “no love for me” because she tried to make state government more transparent and vetoed pork-barrel projects.
Longtime GOP consultant Chip Feikel told the paper “she was good on economic development but not great on cultivating relationships. She forgot who helped her get here.”
NEW HAMPSHIRE SHOWDOWN: WHY TRUMP IS CONNECTING WITH VOTERS AND HALEY AND DESANTIS HAVE NOT
Perhaps the classic case involved former governor Mark Sanford, whose tenure was ruined by the “Appalachian Trail” extramarital affair, who agreed to her request for a $400,000 ad blitz to salvage her campaign.
“And then she cut me off,” Sanford told Politico. “This is systematic with Nikki: She cuts off people who have contributed to her success. It’s almost like there’s some weird psychological thing where she needs to pretend it’s self-made.”
Ouch.
There’s another way to look at this: “Haley and her supporters attribute the hard feelings she left in her wake to jealousy, sexism and the sense that a young woman of color had simply not waited her turn.”
Republican presidential hopeful and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks after results came in for the New Hampshire primaries during a watch party in Concord, New Hampshire, on January 23, 2024. (JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)
But clearly, the accumulation of complaints reflects a pattern of burning bridges and alienating allies, even if it also depicts her as a fighter.
While Haley has sharpened her rhetoric against the former president, regularly calling him “unhinged,” she is still pulling her punches.
On Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” when host Kristen Welker asked whether the $83-million verdict in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case was “disqualifying,” Haley answered in process terms:
“I absolutely trust the jury. And I think that they made their decision based on the evidence. I just don’t think that should take him off the ballot.”
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks at a campaign town hall in Rye, New Hampshire, January 2, 2024. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)
On the third try, Welker asked: “Why give him a pass on this issue, where a jury has found him liable for sexual abuse?”
“I’m not giving him a pass on anything,” Haley said before pivoting to Trump’s supposed decline as a 77-year-old. Everyone supports juries. What she did not do was address the substance of the accusations, which Trump continues to vehemently deny.
Welker moved on: “He has mocked your birth name. He has suggested you’re not eligible to be president because your parents weren’t born here. Of course, you are eligible. You were born here…What do you make of him bringing back this birther playbook against you? Do you think it will work in South Carolina and win over voters there?”
“I mean, honestly, Kristen, I laugh every time I see one of his tweets, every time I see him throw a temper tantrum, because I know Donald Trump very well. When he feels insecure, he starts to rail. He starts to rant.” She completely ducked the question.
Welker, again: “Would you go so far as to call those attacks racist, Ambassador?”
“I think that’s for everybody else to decide.”
Haley has obviously made a calculated decision not to criticize Trump too harshly on personal matters. She undoubtedly believes that could turn off MAGA voters who might defect to her. But with less than a month to go before her home state primary, the try-not-to-offend-anyone strategy isn’t working.
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Footnote: Haley confirmed, as previously reported, that her house had been swatted–a false emergency call–while she was not at home. But she disclosed that she and her husband Michael, who’s away on military deployment, “take care of my parents. They are 87 and 90…And they were at home and with their caregiver. And so I will tell you that the last thing you want is to see multiple law enforcement officials with guns drawn pointing at my parents and thinking that something happened. It is an awful situation. It put the law enforcement officers in danger. It put my family in danger.”
This is outrageous and unacceptable. The feds must step up efforts to trace those making these reckless calls and make sure they get significant jail time.
Habitual marijuana users cannot be barred from owning guns, Supreme Court rules
Fox News host Sean Hannity reports the Supreme Court unanimously limits a federal gun law, ruling habitual marijuana users cannot be banned from owning guns. Legal Analyst Gregg Jarrett explains the 9-0 decision, distinguishing between recreational use and serious addiction, contrasting it with Hunter Biden’s crack cocaine and gun charges.
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FIRST ON FOX: A powerful House committee is escalating its probe into the Biden administration for alleged collusion with gun control activists.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is demanding that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the federal agency responsible for enforcing gun laws, hand over documents detailing Biden aides’ communications with Everytown for Gun Safety, an influential gun control group founded by billionaire Michael Bloomberg.
Comer’s panel has argued that a now-defunct Biden office may have collaborated with Everytown to help facilitate its lawsuit with the city of Chicago against the gunmaker Glock Inc.
“These records will inform the Committee as to whether the Biden Administration and Everytown colluded to attack private gun manufacturing companies through lawfare to circumvent Second Amendment rights,” Comer wrote in a letter Wednesday to the ATF that was reviewed by Fox News Digital.
Rep. James Comer arrives at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 10, 2026. (Tom Brenner/Getty Images)
CITY OF CHICAGO SUES GLOCK INC. OVER ‘FACILITATING’ ILLEGAL GUN CONVERSIONS
Chicago’s lawsuit, listing Everytown’s legal arm as the plaintiff’s counsel, was filed in March 2024 and alleges Glock sold pistols that the firearms manufacturer knew could be easily modified to fire like machine guns.
“Glock knows that it takes little effort to convert its pistols into illegal machine guns and that criminals frequently do so,” the lawsuit alleged. “Glock also knows it could fix the problem, but has chosen not to, putting profits over public safety and violating the law.”
In the letter, Comer cited a 2023 meeting between the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention (WHOGVP) and representatives from Glock, during which Biden officials pressed the gun manufacturer to modify its pistol designs.
When Chicago sued Glock three months later, John Feinblatt, president of Everytown, wrote on X, “Federal officials recently contacted Glock to discuss implementing new ways to modify Glock pistols to make it harder for Glock switches to be installed. Rather than help, Glock has falsely insisted there is nothing they can do.”
Comer argues Feinblatt “appears to have had insider information regarding the WHOGVP’s private meeting with Glock, which raises questions about whether the Biden Administration colluded with Everytown to initiate their lawsuit against Glock,” according to the letter.
The lawsuit is still moving through the court system, with a Cook County judge denying Glock’s motion to dismiss the case in September 2025.
Members of Everytown for Gun Safety rally outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on May 26, 2022. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
STATES’ TOP COPS GANG UP ON LETITIA JAMES IN CRUSADE WITH POTENTIAL NATIONWIDE CONSEQUENCES
The Kentucky lawmaker has also highlighted close ties between the Biden White House and Everytown. The letter notes that Biden aide Rob Wilcox worked at Everytown for eight years prior to his employment with the WHOGVP.
Biden also headlined Everytown action fund’s annual training conference, known as Gun Sense University, in June 2024, during which he reiterated his support for a nationwide ban on so-called assault weapons.
Wednesday’s letter comes after the GOP-led panel asked the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in April for communications between the Biden White House and Everytown.
House Oversight Republicans previously subpoenaed the Biden ATF and Everytown for all communications related to their “potential collaboration efforts,” but neither party complied with the request.
President Joe Biden speaks about gun safety at Everytown’s Gun Sense University at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., on June 11, 2024. (Saul Loeb/AFP)
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Comer has also argued that the committee’s probe will help lawmakers evaluate whether new legislation is needed to combat officials violating recordkeeping requirements or using their roles to leak private information to politically aligned third parties.
A spokesperson for the ATF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The June 16 appearance by Vance gave the program its most-watched episode since November 2024.
The first appearance by Vice President JD Vance on ABC’s “The View” delivered the most-watched edition of the talk show since November 2024.
The June 16 program averaged 3.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen data. The figure was well above the average of 2.6 million viewers for “The View” in the 2025-26 season.
Vance appeared on the liberal-leaning program to promote his new book on his decision to become a Catholic. While the co-hosts mostly questioned him on the Trump administration’s policies on immigration and race, the discussion was cordial.
The panel of co-hosts — Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Ana Navarro, Sunny Hostin and Alyssa Farah Griffin — did not ask Vance to address the program’s ongoing tension with the Federal Communications Commission.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has questioned whether “The View” should have the status of news programs, which are exempt from giving equal time to the opponents of political candidates who appear as guests.
ABC has asked the FCC to rule on the status of “The View,” which received an exemption from the rarely enforced equal time provision in 2002. ABC has maintained that “The View” books politicians based on newsworthiness and not partisanship.
The FCC is currently taking comments from the public on the matter. ABC is running on-air spots urging viewers to support the program.
“‘The View’ has welcomed your favorite guests and covered the issues you care about for nearly 30 years,” the spot says. “Now the FCC wants to control who is allowed to appear on the show.”
The National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee submitted comments Monday, asserting that “The View” takes advantage of its exemption and favors Democratic candidates and permits “only rare appearances by Republican-aligned figures.”
ABC has told the FCC that “The View” has invited politicians from both sides of the aisle to appear on “The View,” including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of State Marco Rubio and entrepreneur Elon Musk. They have declined the invitation as did Vance before his appearance last week.
The letter from the GOP committees also cited the ideological leanings of the co-hosts, saying they are “not selected for their journalistic talent or excellence in commentary, but for their partisan tilt.”
Over the last two decades, “The View” has used five liberal hosts and filled one seat designated for a conservative voice. The right-leaning co-host role has had the most turnover.
“The View” has been the most-watched daytime program for the last nine years. As a live, topical program, it has remained an important media platform while the rest of the talk show genre has largely faded due to diminishing audiences.
Carr’s targeting of “The View” is part of his ongoing criticism of broadcast platforms that annoy President Trump, who has urged that TV station licenses be pulled when he’s been unhappy with coverage.
Politics
Trump to kick off Great American State Fair as 250th anniversary celebrations take over National Mall
Washington DC to host Great American State Fair for America250
Ambassador Monica Crowley discusses the Great American State Fair, set to transform the National Mall in Washington D.C. from June 25 to July 10. Celebrating America’s 250th anniversary, the 16-day event will feature pavilions from all 50 states and six territories, a 110-foot Ferris wheel, traditional games, and rodeo competitions, aiming to unite the country.
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President Donald Trump will kick off the Great American State Fair Wednesday evening as part of celebrations surrounding the nation’s 250th anniversary.
“President Trump promised the greatest 250th birthday celebration in American history, and Freedom 250 is proud to help deliver it for the American people,” Freedom 250 CEO Keith Kranch told Fox News Digital.
“This celebration is about what makes America exceptional—our freedom, our faith, our optimism, and our people. We are honored to welcome President Trump as he helps kick off these historic festivities tomorrow and begin a nationwide celebration of our Nation’s 250th birthday,” Krach added.
The fair brings together all 50 states and six U.S. territories for a national celebration stretching from the Capitol to the Washington Monument featuring military flyovers, musical performances and civic programming. Trump announced he will deliver remarks after a handful of musical artists pulled out of their musical performances, turning the bash into a “Make America Great Again Rally.”
TRUMP FLOATS REPLACING 250TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT WITH MASSIVE MAGA RALLY AFTER ARTISTS PULL OUT
Organizers describe the Great American State Fair as a modern-day World’s Fair celebrating America’s 250th anniversary. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The event is scheduled to run from June 25 through July 10, 2026, celebrating patriotism to bring together the nation for a celebration of unity.
TRUMP’S DC BEAUTIFICATION PUSH WINS RARE DEM PRAISE AS PRESIDENT SNAPS LANDMARKS BACK TO LIFE
U.S. President Donald J. Trump watches the UFC lightweight championship fight during the UFC Freedom 250 event on the South Lawn at the White House on June 14, 2026 in Washington, DC (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
Trump’s anticipated remarks follow his signature last week on a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran, launching a 60-day negotiating period aimed at preventing Tehran from ever obtaining nuclear weapons capability.
The world’s fair-scale event will have pavilions touching on five national themes: Made in America, American Heartland, American Innovates, The American Canvas, and Faith & Family.
There will also be a 110-foot Ferris wheel and the refurbished Smithsonian carousel for families to enjoy.
Rending of 110-foot ferris wheel coming to National Mall for “Great American State Fair.” (Freedom250)
The U.S. has hosted over two dozen variations of the world’s fair since first hosted in Philadelphia in 1876, according to the State Department.
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Freedom250, the nonpartisan group helping coordinate the broader America250 effort, said the fair will feature food, games, exhibits and themed attractions designed to showcase the country’s culture, history and innovation.
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