Ingraham’s message: “If you know what’s best for your political career, you’ll be good Trump foot soldiers, fall in line and hand him the nomination."

Last week, I wrote that the Fox/Trump marriage of convenience is going strong and will not break up so long as each finds the other useful – and there’s no end to that in sight.

As if to prove my point, Host Laura Ingraham kicked off her show tonight by lecturing Trump rivals Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley to “step aside” and get behind Dear Leader. And maybe it’s just me but I thought there was more than a smidgen of threat behind her admonition.

INGRAHAM: Now, look, unless something unthinkable happens, Donald Trump is going to be the nominee of the Republican Party. And the party is more unified now, but behind him and his policies, than at any time since the Reagan years or maybe, maybe right after 9/11. Now, this is not spin, it's the truth. If beating Joe Biden is really their goal, then it's time for some serious soul searching by Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis.

Actually, the party is not unified behind Trump, given that nearly 50% of Iowa’s Republican caucus voters want someone else as their party’s nominee. Dan Pfeiffer has a good explanation as to why Trump’s win last night was underwhelming.

Ingraham gave DeSantis both a pat on the back and a kick in the pants as she tried to shove him off the primary stage:

INGRAHAM: Now, let's start with DeSantis. He outperformed last night. He beat Nikki Haley's war chest, so he has a lot to be proud of. As a candidate on the trail, he worked his butt off and people forget how young he is. So, with what, three more years as Florida's governor, he can build an even greater track record of success in that very important state.  

So, a future in the Republican Party for him could be really bright, but he's simply not going to be president this time around. I know it's hard to hear. You work really hard for it. It's not happening. Trump is simply too powerful and has endured too much. Voters aren't going to turn their backs on him at this point and every day that Ron DeSantis stays on the campaign trail criticizing Trump is a day that hurts Ron DeSantis' political future. He doesn't gain anything from it, that's for sure and Trump, he's not hurt by it at all.  

So, it's time to step aside and endorse Trump. Waiting for South Carolina, it's a colossal waste of time. It's a waste of money and frankly, it's a waste of your future political capital.

Ingraham told Haley to stop listening to her consultants and to listen to Trumper Ingraham instead:

INGRAHAM: And as for Nikki Haley, my advice is this: Stop listening to your high-priced campaign consultants who are telling you what they think you want to hear. Now, I know these people, and I'm telling you, they fly around on their private planes on the money that they make from these candidates, and they tell their clients to repeat silly lines. 

Ingraham went on to claim that Haley had less support than even her third place finish indicated because at the three caucuses Ingraham attended, Democrats turned out for Haley in “huge numbers.” Ingraham stuck the knife in a little farther: Democrats “know that Nikki Haley, to them at least, is the most similar to Biden in the Republican field on issues from DEI to trade, and the border,” Ingraham added.

INGRAHAM: So, if she wants a future in the Republican party, Haley needs to tune out the Never Trumpers, not embrace them. And then she needs to go to her donors and– and this is a toughie – and say to them this: look, the party has moved on, it’s not 2003 any more and we have to move on with it. The only alternative for her at least, is to simply retreat from politics altogether. … So, every day Nikki Haley spends on the campaign trail beating the old establishment horse or criticizing Trump, she is just further destroying her chances of being an influential voice in Republican politics in the future.

The sad thing is that Ingraham is probably 100% correct about this. And the chances are DeSantis and Haley will drop out before long and endorse Ingraham’s favorite p***y grabber. But it's clear Ingraham was not acting out of any concern for DeSantis' or Haley's future or career, only Trump. And believe me, Ingraham knows Trump faces a strong challenge from Haley in New Hampshire and would love to save her guy from any embarrassment there. 

But what’s saddest to me is to see what purports to be a news network acting as Trump’s enforcer. And you know this will happen again and again in the coming months.

You can watch it below, from the January 16, 2024 The Ingraham Angle.