Fox’s Perino Presses Haley On Whether Trump’s Got Nomination Locked Up: Are You and the Other Candidates ‘Fighting for Scraps?’

Fox News’ Dana Perino confronted Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley with the possibility that her campaign is futile, given the current political layout of the 2024 election.

Perino spoke with Haley on Thursday about her debate performance, about an hour after the Fox News anchor and debate moderator bluntly said she didn’t see a breakthrough from anyone on the stage. Since Donald Trump once again decided not to participate in the debate, Perino started by asking Haley if the former president should have been there.

“You can’t win if you are absent,” Haley answered. “There is a lot of issues I think Americans will want answers to, and the more these debates play out and the more that he is not there, they are gonna have a problem with that.”

From there, Perino observed that Trump and President Joe Biden seem to be acting like their rematch for the White House is inevitable. Beyond the reality of Trump’s polling lead in the GOP primary, his campaign is calling for the Republican National Committee to cancel all further primary debates so they can focus squarely on Biden. Meanwhile, the president’s campaign is already running ads against his predecessor.

Perino proceeded to ask Haley “If President Trump and Joe Biden are both basically running general election campaigns now, does it leave everybody on the stage fighting for scraps?”

“No I don’t think so,” Haley answered, even as she acknowledged the notion’s growing prevalence. When she moved to directly address Biden’s anti-Trump ad, she called it “interesting” because “Biden wants Trump to be his opponent, without question.”

The interview continued with Perino asking Haley when she thinks the GOP field will finally narrow, which might be the only way for one of Trump’s primary rivals to consolidate enough support to challenge him.

Watch above via Fox News.