Donald Trump may have become unstoppable, but the Republican Party’s two most prominent Indian-American faces Nikki Randhawa Haley and Bobby Jindal are not reconciled to the controversial billionaire’s continuing surge. Haley is now rallying behind Senator Ted Cruz with a “hope” and “prayer” of stopping Trump somehow.
Both South Carolina Governor Haley and former louisiana Governor Jindal had endorsed Senator Marco Rubio for the Republican nomination and campaigned for him. But Rubio quit the race on Tuesday after Trump knocked him out in his home turf of Florida. In preceding weeks, Trump had also walked away with Haley’s South Carolina and Jindal’s louisiana.
“My hope and my prayer is that Senator Cruz can come through so that he can push through and really get to where he needs to go,” Haley told reporters at the South Carolina State House on Wednesday. “Because we do want a strong leader, we do want somebody that’s conservative, we do want somebody that’s action minded. So we’ll see what happens.”
Stating that the third candidate in the fray, John Kasich, may just not have a path to win the nomination, Haley said, “I very much want to see Senator Cruz now be able to move through the ranks and get that top position.”
She, however, did not come out with a formal endorsement, remarking, “I don’t know that I need to formally endorse. If anybody asks me, that’s what I want to see happen.”
Asked if she would support if Trump did go on to win the Republican nomination, Haley replied, “Ask me when the time comes again, but as of now, I strongly believe I will support the Republican nominee. The only thing I can say now is my hope and my prayer is that Senator Cruz can come through this.”
Jindal did not come out with any new announcement of support after Rubio’s departure, but criticised President Obama and his policies for the rise of both Trump and Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders. In an op-ed piece for Fox News, Jindal wrote that Trump and Sanders have tapped into voters’ anger, charging that Obama’s “incompetence and ideological extremism” have not helped things.
Speaking to MSNBC, Jindal commented that Trump’s emergency may well sound the death-knell for the Republican establishment. “The GOP establishment is done for. This race shows that,” he said.
Jindal, however, did not favour a “brokered convention” to prevent Trump from becoming nominee, saying such a move would only further discredit the Republican leadership. “When huge chunks of your base are telling you something, you have to listen to them. let the voters speak,” he said.