Haley’s powerful moment will be lost on today’s GOP

Nikki Haley had a moment Tuesday. An authentic, human moment. The kind of moment that could, historically speaking, turn a struggling presidential primary campaign around.

During a news conference many thought would involve her dropping out of the GOP primary race, which she’s losing badly to Donald Trump, Haley effectively said “damn the torpedoes” and made clear she’s not going anywhere.

Later in her speech, she brought up her soldier husband, Michael, who’s on deployment in Africa with the South Carolina National Guard, the same husband Trump recently mocked by saying, “Where is he? He’s gone!”

“As I prepare for what lies ahead, Michael is at the forefront of my mind,” Haley said, tearing up and struggling to continue. “I wish Michael was here today, and I wish our children and I could see him tonight, but we can’t. He’s serving on the other side of the world, where conflict is the norm, where terrorists hide among the innocent, where Iran’s terrorist proxies are now attacking America’s troops.”

GOP voters given a rare moment of humanity, but won’t care

It was a powerfully emotional moment, a rare bit of humanity in the slick and often robotic realm of modern politics. I’d like to say this will be the moment Haley’s campaign took off, this will be the point where Republican voters recognize just how low Trump has put the bar for basic human decency and see how much better they could do with their vote.

But that’s not going to happen.

I applaud Haley for staying in this race, and it’s clear from the money she has supporting her that there are wealthy conservatives who believe she has a shot, even if it involves Trump getting convicted in one of his many criminal trials or the babbling 77-year-old’s incoherence and paranoia overwhelming him and driving him out of the race.

But all the “maybe Haley stands a chance” hopes rest on the broken belief that there are enough normal Republicans left to elect her. And there aren’t.

Haley’s qualifications don’t mean a thing to many GOP voters

During her speech, Haley pointed out: “Despite being a de facto incumbent, Donald Trump lost 49% of the vote in Iowa. In New Hampshire, Trump lost 46% of the vote. That’s not good.”

She’s right that it’s not good, but wrong about why. What’s not good is that close to 50% of Republican voters still want a guy who is facing 91 state and federal felony charges, has been found liable of sexual abuse and fraud, owes about a half-billion dollars in legal fines, is spending millions in donor money on his legal expenses and now peddles gaudy Trump-branded sneakers to make a buck.

Despite everything – and despite Haley’s transparently superior qualifications, intelligence and demeanor – those voters still want the guy who may well be a convicted felon by the time the November election rolls around.

THAT is the problem. And neither Haley nor the hopeful-and-wealthy people backing her quixotic campaign can fix that, because, quite frankly, you can’t fix stupid.

In the end, Haley’s human moment at news conference won’t matter

Haley had a moment Tuesday, there’s no doubt about that. It was moving, and any decent American, regardless of politics, should respect her, her husband and her family for their sacrifice. That’s the kind of stuff that used to matter. It’s the kind of stuff that should still matter.

But in today’s Republican Party, it won’t matter a bit.