Nikki Haley has been on a roll of late. The former South Carolina governor has pulled in some 70 new endorsements in Iowa, and last week she kicked off a $10 million ad buy in both the Hawkeye State and New Hampshire.

But if Haley thought she had the wind at her back going into last night’s fourth Republican presidential debate — the debate that no one watched — she was disabused of that notion in short order.

“The only person more fascist than the Biden regime now is Nikki Haley,” said Vivek Ramaswamy in an apparent dig at Haley’s recent call for the outing of everyone who posts comments on social media. Ramaswamy went on to lambaste the former UN ambassador for her ties to the defense industry and the sizable fortune she’s amassed thereby in remarkably short order. “Nikki,” he said, “I don’t have a woman problem. You have a corruption problem.”

But it wasn’t just Ramaswamy who went after Haley. It was also Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who himself was fresh off a one-on-one curb-stomping of Democrat shadow candidate Gavin Newsom. “She caves anytime the Left comes after her,” said DeSantis, “anytime the media comes after her. I did a bill in Florida to stop the gender mutilation of minors. It’s child abuse, and it’s wrong. She opposes that bill.”

It wasn’t the harsh words of her Republican colleagues that posed the biggest problem for Haley, though. Instead, it was a huge gift to her super PAC from a Democrat mega-donor — a $250,000 donation from LinkedIn cofounder and Big Tech billionaire Reid Hoffman.

Why on earth, you ask, would a lefty like Hoffman — a longtime Biden supporter who says he’ll vote for Scranton Joey Bagadonuts again next year — donate such a large sum to a Republican?

It’s a great question. And the answer: Simply to meddle. In a LinkedIn post titled “American Democracy, Joe Biden, and Nikki Haley,” Hoffman explained: “I did so because my first priority is American democracy and the integrity of our legal system. That means my first priority is to defeat Trump, and the primary is the first of two chances to do so.”

Apparently, Hoffman thinks that an extra 250 grand is all that’s keeping Nikki Haley from catching fire, winning over 50 million or so Trump voters, and running away with the Republican nomination. Uh-huh.

As to Hoffman’s meddlesome gift, DeSantis press secretary Bryan Griffin had this to say: “It makes perfect sense that liberal Democrat billionaires would support Nikki Haley’s bid for the White House because she is a liberal. She would let corporations set immigration policy, roll out the red carpet for China, hike taxes on hardworking Americans, and require social media users to register with the government. Ron DeSantis is bearing the banner of conservatism in this nomination contest and will defeat the swamp, starting with Nikki Haley.”

In his justification for trying to rig a Republican primary election, Hoffman trots out one tired trope after another:

I agree with The Economist that a Trump re-election is the greatest threat the world faces in 2024 and with The Atlantic that a second Trump term would pose an ‘existential threat to America and to the ideas that animate it.’ Those of us who believe in America must link arms to block Donald Trump from regaining the White House. America needs both major parties to nominate sane people who will honor their oath of office. …

If America is to avoid another Trump presidency, it will be because Trump loses an election next year. If he is to lose, it will either be to Nikki Haley in the primary, or Joe Biden in the general. I have invested in the Stand for America PAC supporting Nikki Haley because I agree with Jamie Dimon’s recent comments that Democrats should support Haley in the primary and Biden in the general election.

What we have here is a case of election interference. Hoffman is clearly Trump-deranged, and he has no legitimate business meddling in the Republican primary.

As for Haley, she should’ve returned that ill-gotten cash. Or donated it to her favorite charity. Or donated it to the Republican National Committee. That she didn’t do so speaks volumes about her tone-deafness and her opportunism. Asked about the Demo donation on Fox News this morning, Haley seemed both flummoxed and evasive: “You know, first of all, I think that, I don’t know who that person is. … but anybody who wants to support us, we’re gonna take it.”

Clearly, she just doesn’t get it.

Updated with a quote from Haley about Hoffman’s donation.