Teflon Don shows his durability

Early Tuesday morning, Nikki Haley’s campaign tried to keep hope alive with a statement full of bravado and a pledge to keep going beyond New Hampshire.

The statement’s implicit acceptance of defeat turned out to be true, but it was hardly a close race and her decision to continue reflects more hope than reality.

Yet while Haley lives to fight Donald Trump another day, the road only gets harder from here. She had the endorsement of the Granite State’s popular governor, Republican Chris Sununu, and feasted on the votes of non-Republicans, advantages that will be almost impossible to repeat.

Still, she did well enough to forestall the media ritual of an autopsy of why and where it all went wrong. The insiders who can be counted on to spill gossipy details about how the once-promising effort lost its way will be put on hold.

But make no mistake: there is little reason to believe her train is bound for glory. Trump appears to be unstoppable as he aims to make history by winning the GOP nomination for the third time.

After his dismal second-place finish in Iowa, Gov. Ron DeSantis saw the light and announced he was dropping out and endorsing the former president. DeSantis’ flop was indeed a crash and burn given the high expectations attached to his campaign.