Presenter Bill Maher revealed his ‘dream’ ticket for the 2024 presidential contest on a recent episode of Real Time , which included former Republican contenders Nikki Haley and Joe Biden . After her campaign was suspended due to a low turnout on Super Tuesday, Haley’s hopes of becoming president came to an abrupt halt this week. Most notably, she declined to endorse the presumed Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump .
Bill Maher’s dream “unity” ticket is Biden & Nikki Haley because I guess to him the first woman of color VP is just a placeholder. Truly one of the more fucked up things he has EVER said and I honestly don’t know why he still has a career. He’s washed. pic.twitter.com/iErr6AyniL
— Renee (@PettyLupone) March 10, 2024
As reported by Mediaite , Maher offered Haley an alternative political route at Friday’s panel discussion, insisting she had no future in the Republican Party “as long as Trump is ascendant.” Maher said, “I know it’s crazy to think that she could run with Biden. But that’s my dream, a unity ticket. And then he would, I think, definitely win.” Tara Palmeri responded by questioning Maher: “You would literally destroy the Democratic base. Take off the first African American Vice President off the ticket?” Maher, while referring to Haley, said, “She’s a woman of color.” Palmeri interrupted adding, “Yeah but Black women are like the core of the Democratic Party.” Subsequently, the HBO presenter suggested Sen. Mitt Romney, a Republican from Utah, as Biden’s Secretary of State. He said, “Something to reach across so that we don’t live in this world where everybody sees the other side as an existential threat.”
Nikki Haley: “If Donald Trump is the nominee, you can mark my words, he will not win a general election.” pic.twitter.com/qRkuJPWyRA
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) March 10, 2024
In October 2022, Maher started experimenting with the notion of removing Kamala Harris from the Democratic ticket. As reported by Fox News , Maher said at the time, “What I could see is replacing the vice president. Because she’s just not very popular anywhere. And it didn’t seem to work out. And, I don’t know, that’s been done before on a ticket.” In agreement, The Atlantic writer Flanagan said of Harris, “In addition to being, for some reason, an off-putting person, she also has, I think, a lot of baggage that probably wouldn’t do well under a lot of scrutiny.” Maher further added, “I just think she’s a bad politician. And I don’t…I mean…I don’t think…I think she’s a very bright person. But I can see them doing that because a lot of the problem with Biden being old is, ‘Oh, if he dies then you know you’re gonna get this person.’ OK, so here’s the problem with the Democratic party. They’re so boxed in by identity politics that you cannot conceive of a Democratic ticket that doesn’t have a woman and person of color on it.”
In the meantime, Haley has already declared out of running for president in a third party and rejected the notion of a unity ticket, which was proposed by Democratic contender Dean Phillips. She has not yet given her endorsement to Trump, indicating that he must first win her people’s support before she endorses him, even though she signed the RNC promise to back the ultimate winner to take part in the primary debates. Though Haley won her first state in Vermont, Trump was the big winner that night. She also prevailed in the Republican primary in Washington, D.C. over the weekend. Haley praised Trump on his probable primary win and underlined the need for party unity in her speech on Wednesday.