GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley ended former President Donald Trump’s undefeated run and secured her first victory by winning the Washington, D.C. Republican primary. As the sole remaining challenger to Trump, Haley has stated that she intends to stay in the race for now but has not confirmed whether she will extend her campaign beyond Super Tuesday.

Straight Arrow News contributor David Pakman argues that Nikki Haley remains in the race only in case Trump cannot complete his campaign run. Pakman contends that even in such an event, MAGA’s unwavering loyalty leaves no guarantee that Haley will secure the Republican nomination.

And so when you look at Nikki Haley, who is the last remaining challenger to Donald Trump, she would be out in a normal election. But this is not a normal election. This is an election in which she and others have acknowledged Donald Trump is — they like to use the word “diminished” — he’s struggling, he’s having cognitive issues of different kinds.

Dr. John Gartner, a psychiatrist, has said Trump seems to be suffering from “gross dementia” as evidenced by a number of his speech patterns — you can check out that article on Salon if you want to see the details of what Dr. John Gartner says. And also based on his age and the criminal trials, it’s not statistically inconceivable that Trump may not make it to November as a free-living man: He may die, he may end up in prison, he may end up so sidetracked by the numerous criminal trials against him that he quite literally can’t even make it to rallies. We just don’t know.

And so what Nikki Haley is doing is staying in, not because she has a mathematical path to victory, but because she wants to stick around in case any of these scenarios were to happen.