Taking on Trump: the woman who has never lost
“The 2024 presidential campaign is under way, Lord help us,” said The Wall Street Journal, and the Republican Party now has a second official candidate: Nikki Haley. The former governor of South Carolina launched her campaign last week, challenging Donald Trump for the GOP nomination. The 51-year-old has “clear strengths”. As a popular two-term governor who served as America’s UN ambassador under Trump, she has plenty of experience. A child of Indian immigrants, she brings racial and gender diversity to the field. She’s also charismatic and good on the stump. What she lacks, however, is an “obvious core of support” or a distinctive platform. Critics dismiss her as a throwback to the pre-Trump GOP. Haley is “relentlessly upbeat”: as governor she mandated that cabinet agencies answer phone calls from the public with the line: “It’s a great day in South Carolina.” She reprised that “great day” theme last week. Might it soon be parodied, like the exclamation mark after “Jeb!” Bush in 2016?
Haley certainly starts out as “an underdog”, said Henry Olsen in The Washington Post. But it would be rash “to underestimate a woman who has never lost a campaign”. She has solid conservative credentials, and her opening campaign speech provided further evidence of her ruthless streak. “If you’re tired of losing, put your trust in a new generation,” she told fellow Republicans. She also called for mandatory mental-competency tests for politicians over 75 years old – a policy aimed as much at the 76-year-old Trump as at 80-year-old Joe Biden. Make no mistake: this is a candidate prepared to give as good as she gets. “Haley will be ready when Trump’s inevitable attack comes.”
Haley laid the groundwork carefully for this campaign and she makes an accomplished, poised candidate, said Hugo Gurdon in the Washington Examiner. It’s unlikely, though, that her train has “the locomotive force to reach its intended destination”. Ultimately, she doesn’t have enough support in the party. Her campaign makes more sense as a bid for the vice-presidency. The only Republican who seems to have “the oomph to defeat Trump” today is Florida governor Ron DeSantis. He, unlike Haley, has come under strong pressure to stand. DeSantis is not expected to make an announcement until the end of Florida’s legislative session in May. Until then, the Republican primary will “seem like a phony war”.