Too nice to win?
Former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador Nikki Haley officially declared her campaign for the Republican presidential nomination several days ago, the first person not named Donald Trump to announce. The state’s junior senator, Tim Scott, is expected to announce his candidacy soon.
They’re both talented politicians, ideally suited for delivering an optimistic view of the party and the conservative movement. And that’s exactly the problem: Right now, Republicans are in no mood for optimism.
Haley is the daughter of Indian immigrants who rose to the highest levels of state and national government; Scott is the African American son of a single mother who joined Congress more than a decade ago after defeating the son of famed segregationist Strom Thurmond.
Haley’s best moment came in 2015, after a white supremacist and Confederate sympathizer killed nine parishioners in Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. Succeeding where other Southern governors had failed, Haley led the effort to remove the Confederate flag from flying over the state capitol.
Scott, meanwhile, in his national appearances—addressing the 2020 Republican National Convention and responding to President Joe Biden’s 2021 economic address to Congress— has struck a respectful and collegial tone. In the last three years, he’s been the main Republican negotiator on police reform. He often chastises Democrats for walking away from talks, but usually more in sorrow than in anger.
The problem is that for the Republican base and their candidate, it’s all about anger. As president, Trump attacked and belittled everyone—Democrats, the media, the so-called “Deep State” and, when he felt it necessary, his fellow Republicans. In his announcement speech for the 2024 nomination, he declared that he’s still “angry and upset.”
This stance resonates with Americans wary of a well-connected elite—and Trump’s willingness to criticize that elite is enough for the GOP base to embrace him. That base will not tolerate a candidate willing to compromise with Democrats, apologize when the mainstream media demands it, or be steamrolled by allegedly “woke” corporate America.
In this environment, with outrage as the GOP’s animating emotion, Scott and Haley can’t afford to be Mr. Nice Guy and Ms. Normal.
Still, the question remains: Can the aspirational son or daughter of South Carolina demonstrate that they have the aggressiveness to win the coming war for the Republican Party?
Judging from their temperaments and history, it seems unlikely. Which is too bad, because if Nikki Haley or Tim Scott were the Republican presidential nominee, it would stand as a rebuke to the standard progressive view of conservatives.
Most of us do not see ourselves as racist or advocates for white supremacy. To the contrary, many of us welcome a non-white candidate with conservative values and policies. A sunnier, more positive attitude would be a nice change, too.