Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis Say They’ll Pardon Trump. Why Are They Even Bothering to Run?
Most people break into a sprint when they spy the finish line. With the Iowa caucuses right around the corner, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley are barely stumbling towards Des Moines.
You’d think that Donald Trump’s top Republican adversaries would be using this time to present their closing arguments, and, daresay, go negative. Instead, we are seeing more of what defined the Republican primary race in 2023: a staunch refusal to be too mean to dear old Mr. Trump.
In the last week alone, DeSantis and Haley both pledged to pardon Trump if they are elected president. “I think we’ve got to move on as a country,” the Florida governor explained late last week in Iowa, “because the divisions are just not in the country’s interest.”