Rand Paul Unleashed on Nikki Haley, Sununu Jumps to Her Defense, but Response Doesn't Bode Well for Her

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) just made a big announcement about the upcoming 2024 election and it's prompted a reaction from the Nikki Haley camp.

He notes he sees positives in the other candidates including former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Vivek Ramaswamy. While he says he hasn't decided yet who he would support, he has decided who he will not support: Nikki Haley.

He even has a website, Never Nikki, and he lists all the reasons why he thinks people should not vote for her.

As I look over the field, I don’t think I yet have a first choice, but I do know one thing: count me in as #NeverNikki! pic.twitter.com/0RjbBhnwdc
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 12, 2024

Paul said in a video Friday he doesn't think any informed or knowledgeable libertarian or conservative should support Haley. He pointed to her attitude to our "interventions" overseas and her involvement with the military-industrial complex.

He spoke about her thinking that Americans should be "registered" to use the internet. He explained how he didn't think she understood that some of our Founders wrote missives anonymously out of fear of the government. He said he thought that idea should disqualify her in anyone's mind.

He also went into a further tweet storm against Haley, listing her statements about aid and positions on wars. He called her a member of the "Dick Cheney, John McCain wing of the party."

That's now prompted a reaction from Haley surrogate, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, when he was asked about it on Newsmax.

“What does this mean for her campaign?” the hosts asked Sununu.
“What does Rand Paul mean? Nothing,” Sununu said in response. “I’m sorry, but nobody cares what Rand Paul thinks in this race. This race is in Iowa and New Hampshire; it’s in South Carolina. She’s the only candidate that’s surging.” [....]
“Maybe when the U.S. Senate actually starts doing something and actually starts delivering some results, they can stand on a soapbox and think that their words matter,” Sununu said. “But until then, sorry, Rand Paul. Nobody cares.”

I think it's obvious that Sununu cares, otherwise he wouldn't have responded. Paul's video has more than 1.5 million views since Friday. So, more people may hear what he said, rather than what Sununu is saying. I also think there are far more people who care about what Rand Paul thinks than what Sununu thinks.

Concern about control of the internet and not being involved in further wars is a very important issue for many Republicans, particularly seeing how far down a bad road Democrats have led us on those issues. They don't want to go further down that road. So, Paul's pitch is likely to resonate with them.

The chief strategist for Rand Paul, Doug Stafford, explained that a lot of people did care, that they had 10 million respond in a day.

That’s funny because about 10m people cared in just 24 hours.

I can guarantee you ten million people will never give a shit what @GovChrisSununu does, even if you add every day he spends in office together. #NeverNikki https://t.co/lDWUDcxwey
— Doug Stafford (@dougstafford) January 13, 2024