The fact that Nikki Haley, the last woman standing against Donald Trump, is running a formidable candidate because she's just not crazy shows just how low expectations are in the Republican primaries.
It reminds me of the lyrics to "I'm Still Here," the Stephen Sondheim standard from Follies listing all the terrible things—the Depression, J. Edgar and Herbert Hoover, religion and pills—only this time the singer got out unscathed. I'm Chris Christie and Ron DeSantis. That leaves Haley, the 52-year-old former governor of South Carolina and former US ambassador to the UN, as the only thing standing between us and a Biden/Trump election.
Haley's chances of defeating Trump appear slim after the former president's primary victories in Iowa and New Hampshire. Poll numbers bear this out, while Trump's former opponents rallied behind DeSantis, most recently two seconds after he mocked and belittled them ("Ron Desanctimonius").
What's amazing about Haley in recent weeks is how effectively she's challenged Trump. As we know, this is very difficult to do when you are trying to preserve your dignity. Michelle Obama's old adage - "when they go down, we go up" - does not work with Trump, who continues to decline until the moral high ground is a bright point in the farthest sky. . Alien life form.
Haley used it differently than her male competitors a very special tone for the former president, who feels connected to his relative youth as well as his gender. Historically, given Trump's awkward "I won't touch yours" subtext, women have had a harder time with his taunts than men. Haley, I believe, studied Margaret Thatcher closely and actually cites her as a personal hero, along with Hillary Clinton (and ex-congresswoman Gabby Giffords and, funnily enough, Joan Jett). He has years of public relations with Trump she gave a sharp, sarcastic response to the argument that women in politics lacked a commanding tone, reminiscent of Thatcher's address to her enemies in the House of Commons. "The people of South Carolina are ashamed of Nikki Haley!" Trump tweeted in 2016. she simply replied, "Bless your heart."
Yes it is true the "oh blessing" level of political discourse. You may not like him, but surprisingly, he sat out the event, which made Trump look a little pathetic. The tone Hayley takes is one of those rare ones that hits her and hits her where it hurts on a personal and physical level of arrogance. Since then, she has adopted the guise of the Republican candidate's nurse: “Now, Mr. Trump; have we taken pills today?' - accepted the old man. of the "political elite" and "Forbidden" T-shirts. Forever." This refers to Trump's message to Social Truth that "everyone who 'contributes' to Birdbrain from now on will be permanently removed from Camp Maga." While Hillary Clinton can't pull such nonsense, Haley intuitively understands that Trump's In this case, you have to fight stupid with stupid. T-shirts have gone viral.
I'm getting emotional, I know. It can be easy to forget how low the bar is. Although Haley has been heavily critical of Trump since the January 6 riots, her previous slander was on full display in 2019 when she praised Trump ("He was great to work with") while promoting her book All Respect. As Politico recently noted, Trump rewarded her loyalty by tweeting, "Order your copy today!" Not good. And apparently, he initially agreed to work in Trump's office.
But the ambitious wild daughter of Indian immigrants, whose tenure at the UN was described in a New York Times editorial as "constructive" and one of the few Trump appointments that didn't end in disaster, Haley seems unlikely. As a creature of the modern Republican Party, she still has a few distinct quirks, including my favorite, the charming anecdote about how she "rechristened" her husband when they first met because, as she said at the time, "You just don't look like a texture." (She's taken to calling him "Michael," his middle name, so he's widely recognized.) Weird, yes. But given the alternatives, I'll take it.