Trump Threatens Nikki Haley Donors With Exile From ‘MAGA Camp’

Photo: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Now that Donald Trump has trounced Nikki Haley in the New Hampshire primary, it seems extremely likely that he will be the GOP presidential nominee. At this point, the predictable move for Trump would be to focus on the general election and treat Haley as a nonentity, even if she makes good on her pledge to hang on through Super Tuesday in March.

Instead, Trump is making it very clear that Haley is getting under his skin. On Tuesday night he devoted much of his New Hampshire victory speech to bashing Haley for acting like she still has a chance; he also tried to bully her out of the race by suggesting she has some dark secret that will soon be exposed and making fun of her “fancy dress.” A day later, Trump turned his attention to Haley donors, warning on Truth Social that “Anybody that makes a ‘Contribution’ to Birdbrain, from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp.”

Making a declaration on his failing social media site about the rules of MAGA camp “from this moment forth” just makes Trump look weak and silly. The Haley campaign is already trying to turn the threat against him:

Trump does have reason to focus his ire on Haley donors. At a rally in South Carolina on Wednesday night Haley said she had raised $1 million since her speech in New Hampshire on Tuesday night. Her campaign told Reuters that she raised another $1 million following the Truth Social threat. And as Bloomberg reported, some donors are continuing to pour money into Haley’s campaign, for now:

Haley’s second consecutive defeat Tuesday at the hands of Republican front-runner Donald Trump has intensified calls from his supporters for her to exit the race. But wealthy donors and a group funded by industrialist Charles Koch means she has enough funding to keep running.

The question now is how much longer the money will continue to flow. Billionaires Stanley Druckenmiller, Henry Kravis, Ken Langone and Cliff Asness are scheduled to co-host a New York fundraiser for Haley on Jan. 30. If Haley’s well-heeled supporters decide she does not have a path to victory, they could cut off funding and essentially end her candidacy.

Simone Levinson, a Haley backer and a co-host for the fundraiser, said she had not seen any donors drop their support of the candidate.

Still, Trump’s threat is a bit odd. Shortly before the Truth Social post went up, a few big-name donors, like billionaire Reid Hoffman and metal magnate Andy Sabin, signaled that they’d stop backing Haley. Why not wait a while to see if Haley’s money dries up naturally? Are there many plutocrats who are simultaneously desperate to stay in Trump’s good graces and willing to keep funding a long-shot bid to block his return to the White House? I guess we’ll find out next summer when certain billionaires are conspicuously absent from MAGA camp.

This post has been updated with Haley fundraising figures.