Nikki Haley may be planning convention floor fight to make Trump's life hell: conservative

Donald Trump may have the Republican presidential nomination locked up — but there exists a good possible reason for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to remain in the race, conservative strategist Henry Olsen argued Wednesday.

In his Politico piece, Olsen pointed to the power Haley can secure by the time of the Republican National Convention.

"The rules don’t simply give power to a candidate based on the number of delegates they possess," Olsen writes. "Candidates cannot have their names placed into nomination, and thereby get television airtime at the convention, unless they have a plurality of delegates in at least five states."

This means that even if Haley is guaranteed to lose, the amount of delegates she can win could give her a platform at the convention — and power to extract demands out of Trump and the GOP at large.

"Every winner wants to use that platform to broadcast a structured, convincing message. Do that right and you can give your candidacy a significant, and perhaps decisive, bounce in the polls," wrote Olsen. "But that requires ensuring that there are no fights, or alternative messages coming from the convention floor — something winners cannot fully control. Defeated candidates can still deploy their delegates to obstruct the winner’s will by posing contentious amendments to the party platform or by using their nominating speeches to criticize the nominee. That can become news, and prospective nominees will cut deals to prevent that from happening."

It's unclear exactly what Haley could try to use that power to accomplish. However, Olsen speculated, she might be able to do things like demand the party make a clear commitment to protecting the NATO alliance, which Trump has repeatedly disparaged and even toyed with withdrawing the U.S. from altogether.

"Perhaps Haley has no grand strategy, just a desire to keep going and hope for the best," Olsen concluded. "But win or lose, Haley will soon have to end her guerrilla struggle. Whatever her intent, it’s much better for her to exit with a negotiated peace than an unconditional surrender. Soon we’ll see whether she has the leverage to get something from the master of the deal."