Former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley has announced she is running for president. She is the first Republican to challenge Donald Trump for the nomination. Until now, all potential candidates have been afraid to step up and challenge Trump. They all supported or worked for him in the past, and now they want us all to forget about that and help them finally get rid of Trump. Haley wants us to forget her twisted history with him. When Trump ran in 2016, Haley supported Senator Marco Rubio who Trump dismissively called “Little Marco”. Haley ripped Trump as a racist. She said, “I will not stop until we fight a man that chooses not to disavow the K.K.K. That is not part of our party. This is not who we want as president.”
Haley likes to take pride in signing legislation removing the Confederate flag from the State Capitol after the massacre at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. Pictures of the killer showed him holding a Confederate flag. This was only 158 years too late. Trump later said, “You had some very fine people on both sides” after the violent demonstration by Confederate flag waving protestors in Charlottesville. Then Haley said in an interview that the church shooter “hijacked” the Confederate flag and “people saw it as service, sacrifice and hertiage.” In her 2019 book, “With All Due Respect”, Haley mentions Trump 163 times, all complimentary. In 2021, Haley said, “Thank goodness for Donald Trump or we never would have gotten Kamala Harris to the border.” And to show you how deeply she felt about Trump, you pick the quote. “Donald Trump is everything I taught my children not to do in kindergarten”, or “I don’t want to go back to the days before Trump.” After January 6th, Haley said Trump’s actions “will be judged harshly…and we shouldn’t have listened to him.” Finally, she went to work for Trump as US Ambassador to the United Nations.
Today, Haley announced she’s running for president for “generational change” in a video where she didn’t expose herself to questions. She made no mention of Trump. Though she claims Trump encouraged her to run which means he doesn’t see her as a threat. She did point out that Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections and that has to change. Haley will sell herself as the first female governor and first person of color to hold the job in South Carolina. She was elected in 2010 after trailing in the primary race. She was helped by an endorsement from Sarah Palin. That tells you a lot.
Haley is a prime example of how the Republican Party sold its soul to Trump after he got elected. Party leaders all bashed him until he got the nomination, and then they had no choice. Now, they view him as poison despite his popularity with the MAGA base that will never turn on him. But many Republicans see him as a drag on the party who may be indicted before he’s ever nominated. The usual suspects like Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott who worked for or supported Trump want us to forget the past. Polls show the only threat to Trump is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the smartest guy in the room, just ask him. When and if they decide to come out and turn on the guy they once knelt down before, we should look to see who they really are.
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“Haley is a prime example of how the Republican Party sold its soul to Trump…” is the summary sentence of the Republican Party’s deterioration. And, “…Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections…” is the only reason the thoughtful Republicans feel a need to move on from Trump. There are just way too many factual examples of the Republican Party’s true beliefs that have manifested themselves since 1980. In a normal political world, Haley’s comments (past and present) would automatically disqualify her from being a serious candidate. No more, which is another example of how far our body politic has deteriorated and how deep our racist tendencies run.
She is going nowhere period! In over her head.