Donald Trump’s comfortable victory in New Hampshire, the state where GOP primary voters are seen as most sympathetic to sole remaining challenger Nikki Haley, is easy to see as a signal that Haley’s quest for the Republican nomination is utterly hopeless. Indeed, both Republican politicians and conservative strategists and pundits have been urging the former South Carolina governor to drop out and endorse Trump. But there are good reasons to hope she’ll stay in the race.
For one thing, even if Haley doesn’t have a chance against the Trump juggernaut, her presence in the field is a reminder of a different kind of Republicanism: less Trumpian populism, more small-government, pro-individual rights, internationalist conservatism.
Her message is comparatively optimistic and cheerful, in contrast to the Trumpian message of catastrophism, grievance, and vengeance against real and perceived enemies. She advocates tougher immigration controls but opposes Trump-style vilification of asylum-seekers and other migrants. She is a forceful and eloquent defender of American leadership on the global scene. Even the fact that she is a woman and a minority — the daughter of immigrants from India — makes her the embodiment of an optimistic, forward-looking conservatism that champions an open society with opportunity for all.
Unfortunately for Haley, that’s not where a winnable majority of the Republican base is right now. Much of the base, for a variety of reasons, embraces Trumpism even as Trump sinks deeper and deeper into the fever swamps of conspiracy theory, hate and bigotry — including racist and xenophobic swipes at Haley’s ethnic and immigrant background. But if Haley stays in the race instead of dropping out and endorsing Trump as other contenders like Tim Scott and Ron DeSantis have done, she can be an unofficial standard-bearer for a GOP “Never Trump” movement that will reduce Republican consolidation around Trump.
There’s also a plausible, if not very likely, scenario in which Trump exits the race, whether due to the state of his health or his legal complications. If Haley is still running, she can be ready to step up.
From our Editorial Board, get inside the local, city and state political scenes.
By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy.
But Haley’s ability to serve as the voice and symbol of non-Trumpian conservatism is hampered by another factor: her flat-footed pandering to the Trumpist base. This ranges from her attempts to carefully calibrate her criticisms of Trump and her stance on the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol Hill riot to her bizarre attempt to downplay slavery as the cause of the Civil War and her “both sides-ism” on the Confederate flag, over whose removal from the grounds of South Carolina's state capitol she presided. The same goes for her bizarre insistence that America has “never been a racist country.”
If Haley stays in the GOP race as an outspoken Trump critic, it would almost certainly be an entirely quixotic quest. But her outspokenness could find more resonance than anyone expects at a moment when Trump appears to have deliberately sabotaged a bipartisan congressional deal to improve border security and approve an aid package for Ukraine and Israel. Trump’s self-centered destructiveness has never been more obvious.
At least for now, Haley’s big donors such as the Koch network have not pulled their support, despite Trump’s crass threats that Haley donors will be unwelcome in his coalition. Haley should keep running — and find a stronger and more honest voice. If she does, her candidacy will be a win for America.
Opinions expressed by Cathy Young, a writer for The Bulwark, are her own.
Opinions expressed by Cathy Young, a writer for The Bulwark, are her own.
Cathy Young is a writer for The Bulwark.
Nikki Haley should stay in the GOP race
4
12
26.01.2024
Donald Trump’s comfortable victory in New Hampshire, the state where GOP primary voters are seen as most sympathetic to sole remaining challenger Nikki Haley, is easy to see as a signal that Haley’s quest for the Republican nomination is utterly hopeless. Indeed, both Republican politicians and conservative strategists and pundits have been urging the former South Carolina governor to drop out and endorse Trump. But there are good reasons to hope she’ll stay in the race.
For one thing, even if Haley doesn’t have a chance against the Trump juggernaut, her presence in the field is a reminder of a different kind of Republicanism: less Trumpian populism, more small-government, pro-individual rights, internationalist conservatism.
Her message is comparatively optimistic and cheerful, in contrast to the Trumpian message of catastrophism, grievance, and vengeance against real and perceived enemies. She advocates tougher immigration controls but opposes........
© Newsday
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Andrew Mitrovica
Mort Laitner
Rami G Khouri
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Nikkei Editorial
