Nikki, it's time to fold your losing hand

OK, Nikki Haley.

Sing along with me, the Republican Party and the great Kenny Rogers:

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em,

know when to fold ’em,

Know when to walk away,

know when (NOT) to run.

It’s long past time for you to drop out of the race for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination.

You’ve been called repeatedly and you’ve still got a losing hand.

Donald Trump has humiliated your political butt in primaries across the U.S. But you still don’t know when to throw in your cards and just go away.

Ron DeSantis was smart enough to get out of the primary race before he made a fool of himself.

He knows he still has a future in the GOP, as governor of Florida or maybe even as Trump’s vice president.

But you are still busy burning your political bridges to nowhere.

When you were in that terrible Republican presidential primary debate last fall, I said you looked like you were doing an impression of a mad housewife, arguing with Sen. Tim Scott about drapes.

You changed, as I hoped you would, but it was for the worst.

Now you’re apparently running an “I told you so” campaign.

You want to be able to wake up this Nov. 6 and tell the rest of us Republicans, “ See? I told you so. Trump was going to lose. and you still didn’t vote for me?!”

But what you’re really doing is making sure you’ll never have another position in Republican politics – anywhere.

You were a phenomenal United Nations ambassador for Trump and a great governor of South Carolina.

But by dragging out your hopeless campaign and refusing to quit the primary, you’re throwing away your legacy and political future.

You know you have no hope of winning the presidency. You couldn’t even win a primary in your own state.

You lost Michigan this week and on Super Tuesday on March 5 you will lose every primary in 15 states.

Maybe on March 6 you’ll finally wake up, look in the mirror and suddenly realize that Americans would rather have a president who might be behind bars than you.

Maybe instead of asking what that says about Americans, you’ll ask yourself, “What’s that say about me?”

The rest of us might also ask what do your back-to-back humiliations in the primaries say about the sanity of your donors?

Your biggest donor, one of the zillionaire Koch brothers, woke up, saw the cards you’re betting with and bailed on you.

Face it, Nikki, someone running for president who is counting on the guy you’re running against being in jail is not a good look.

And what makes you think that if Trump was thrown in solitary tomorrow America’s voters would choose you?

It’d be a free-for-all at the Republican National Convention but the party would choose anyone who’s still breathing over you.

I get it that a Republican nominee, whoever it is, will need Democrat votes to win the presidency. I’ve been there, seen that.

But the Democrats who crossed party lines and voted for you in the primaries so far wouldn’t vote for Trump this fall if their party nominated a convicted serial killer.

If Trump fell over dead tomorrow, would the Republican Party support you? Not a chance. A lot of other people would jump in the race and you would be trampled.

So Nikki, please, face the Kenny Rogers music.

You’ve blown your present and your future. It’s so sad, Gavin Newsom is now telling everyone you’re the best surrogate Biden and the Democrats have.

The Republican Party and its members don’t want you to be the nominee, no matter what.

It’s time to fold your losing hand, cash in your chips and go home to Carolina.

Michael Reagan, the son of President Ronald Reagan, is an author, speaker and president of the Reagan Legacy Foundation. Send comments to reagan@caglecartoons.com