Joy Reid claims donor class wants Nikki Haley to ‘thug it out’ to take GOP nomination if Trump is convicted

Reid suggested that Haley might "thug it out" in hopes of becoming the nominee should Trump be convicted.

"I'm not saying she could get it," Reid began, referring to the Republican nomination, "but if you're the donor class that wants Trump gone, you tell her 'Thug it out for a few months. I'm gonna put some more money in your bank account'."

She added that in the eyes of the donors, "if [Trump] gets convicted, you do wanna have a candidate with enough delegates to go in that can be on the floor and have a floor fight with Donald Trump."

According to a recent poll conducted by Harvard CAPS-Harris, however, the former president's legal woes don't appear to have that big an impact on his political standing. The poll found that he "still wins over Biden if he is convicted on most cases, but not the Capitol riots."

In the Mar-a-Lago documents case, 53 percent of voters said they would still vote for Trump even if he is convicted, compared to 47 percent who said they would vote for Biden. In the George 2020 election case, 51 percent said they would still vote for Trump over the 49 percent who said they would vote for Biden. In the January 6 and federal 2020 election case, however, 48 percent said they would vote for Trump, while 52 percent said they would vote for Biden.

That same survey found that over half of respondents said there was no "viable path to winning the Republican nomination" for Haley, though she did attain a favorability rate only 5 points lower than Trump.

After losing Tuesday's primary, Haley delivered a speech in which she declared that "this race is far from over."

She has since faced mounting calls to resign, including now from Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel.

"Looking at the math and the path going forward," she said, "I don't see it for Nikki Haley."