Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley pulled off her first victory in the Republican primary contest on Sunday, blowing out former President Donald Trump in Washington D.C., 1,274 votes to 676.
But a tweet on X quickly racked up way more votes than Haley got, leading to mockery online and comparisons to Julia Louis Dreyfuss’ bumbling vice presidential caricature Selina Meyer in Veep.
“Nikki Haley finding out she won the DC primary,” posted @joeyhannum over a clip of Meyer celebrating the show’s president deciding not to run for reelection, paving the way for an eventual Myers campaign.
That tweet quickly wrapped up nearly 9,000 likes, leading to a follow-up joke from @joeyhannum pointing out that the tweet got more likes than Haley got votes.
That tweet in turn got 19,000 likes of its own, almost 20 times the number of votes Haley got in the primary.
The riffing led to jokes about Haley taking the win in D.C. as a sign that she was going to win the whole election, including another screencap from Veep of Meyer whispering to her aide Gary Walsh that she’s going to be president.
“(delusional),” replied @joeyhannum.
Haley’s team, though, was satisfied with its victory.
“It’s not surprising that Republicans closest to Washington dysfunction are rejecting Donald Trump and all his chaos,” declared Haley spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas in a statement after the victory was announced, reported the Associated Press.
Haley’s dominance in D.C. was viewed largely as a symbolic victory ahead of a likely romp for Trump on Super Tuesday, as well as evidence to Trump and his supporters that Haley is the favored candidate of D.C. insiders.
“While Nikki has been soundly rejected throughout the rest of America, she was just crowned Queen of the Swamp by the lobbyists and DC insiders that want to protect the failed status quo,” Trump said in a statement. “The swamp has claimed their queen.”
“She won the swamp,” posted @davis8273shari. “Even when she wins, she loses.”
