By Lynn Levesque
Nikki Haley is having her moment. New Hampshire is her big play. She appeared to surge past Ron DeSantis in Iowa late last week, but Ron had bet all on Iowa, and Haley under performed in upscale Iowa counties, allowing DeSantis to edge her out for second place, in a caucus dominated by The Donald. At least Iowa counted their votes on time for a change.
Haley rolled into the Granite State with polls still showing her trailing Trump by anywhere from twenty points to single digits. The large number of undeclared voters who can choose which party primary to vote in, and a Democratic contest that has not set the world on fire, remain the wild card. This did wonders for John McCain in 2000, but South Carolina voters were made of sterner stuff. George W rallied fundamentalists while phone banks spread rumors he’d fathered a black love child, and been left crazy after years as a POW. The smart money says Haley will suffer the same fate, even if she pulls a McCain like surprise in the Granite State. When it comes to hardball, Trump is less shy than W, and it does not help that South Carolina is the state Haley rose to national fame as Governor of. She trails Trump badly there, and probably will after New Hampshire, whatever the outcome.
Haley flashes across the NH sky, full of charisma and savvy this week. Despite her Tea party roots, Darling Nikki has become the darling of every voter who is appalled that Trump supporters drink water out of finger dishes. They met a girl named Nikki, I guess you could say she was a MAGA fiend, or a MAGA United Nations ambassador. But non MAGA Republicans are reduced to taking what they can get.
The surprising thing is that she got this far in a party that really is more of a Trump cult now, a party that has a problem with people of color, particularly strong women, and a party undone by strong, smart, and attractive women.
In the beginning, she seemed a bad fit, lost in a crowd of GOP aspirants who only sorta seemed to be running against Trump. Now they are all gone. Ramasmarmy has endorsed Trump, which come to think of it he always did, but he has also ended his strange self funded candidacy. He will no longer haunt debate stages as the smarty pants most likely to get a wedgie from the other contenders. Tim Scott, appointed to the US senate by Governor Haley, gone too. Chris Christie swore he’d never pull out, but he couldn’t trap Trump in a debate, get in his face Jersey style, and maybe give him a cold. After he lost The Sununu Primary to Haley (as this publication predicted) he left. But not before making some Mean Girl comments about Nikki not being “up to it.” If anyone wants him he’ll be in the kitchen, stress eating cookie batter. Asa Hutchinson left without a trace. Doug Burgum returns to Fargo, supporting Trump now. After sinking to 5% in NH polls after Iowa, DeSantis closed his effort here, and awaits Nikki in her home state.
Haley finally has the head to head contest with Trump she always wanted. She grandly announced that she would not debate anyone but Trump or Biden now. Good luck with that.
Trump defies gravity, notching victories in the face of 91 charges, doing most of his campaigning as a criminal defendant in court, often mouthing off to the judge. Mixed polls suggest he is only slightly ahead of “Sleepy Joe,” and Republicans might be forgiven for worrying a bit. And along comes Nikki, leading Biden by 17 points, holding the GOP base, plus extra points for what they now call “identity politics.” Wink wink.
Haley presents as a steel magnolia. She gave as good as she got in her one on one debate with the intense DeSantis. But she was so much nicer when she remarked how defensive he seemed, and how his campaign was in such disarray, his operatives w reportedly coming to blows. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she converted to Christianity, went to Clemson, married soldier still deployed overseas, worked as an accountant in her family’s dress shop, and upset the good old boy club in 2004 by ousting a 30 year male incumbent from a state house seat. In 2010, she pulled off a similar feat after the original “Bird Brain,” Sarah Palin, endorsed her for governor. As Governor, she was probably best known for removing Confederate symbols from the state flag after a racially motivated church shooting. She opposed Trump at first, but like everybody else, made her deal.
She moved in and out of her time at the UN avoiding most of the chaos, drama, and intrigue. She distinguishes herself from Trump mostly by tone. Her language about choice for women is softer, but not her position. She decries chaos. She invokes her United Nations service, and her soldier hubby, to present a hawkish stand on Ukraine, Hamas, and China. That’s more George W than Donald T.
Of course, she would pardon Trump, and says he was “the right president at the right time.” That must have been the right time for chaos? She was reluctant to admit that slavery brought on the Civil War. She would not rule out serving as Trump’s VP. She thinks candidates over 75 years old should be forced to take competency tests. This is the best alternative to Trump the MAGA party could serve up, folks. As the New Hampshire primary approaches, perhaps the last such primary, the feral Orange Menace peers over Nikki’s shoulder, like in the debate with Hillary the weekend the Access Hollywood tape story broke, contemplating a nice smoke primary night.