Nikki Haley’s Jon Snow moment

“It takes no time to bend the knee,” Tyrion Lannister tells Jon Snow in the seventh season of “Game of Thrones,” urging him to “pledge your sword” to Queen Daenerys Targaryen.

“And why would I do that?” Snow thunders back.

Speaking in Greenville, South Carolina, Tuesday, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley sounded a similar tone, insisting she plans to stay in the Republican primary battle even if former President Donald Trump continues to dominate the race. “I feel no need to kiss the ring,” Haley said. “And I have no fear of Trump’s retribution. I’m not looking for anything from him. My own political future is of zero concern.”

Haley’s increasingly sharp criticism of the former president stands out in a party whose leaders are, for the most part, eager to show the MAGA universe that they are true Trump believers, whatever they may say in private.

Yet yesterday’s results in her home state’s primary might affect Haley’