Haley’s campaign proved something about the GOP
No, Nikki Haley didn’t have a super Tuesday, or even a good Tuesday. In fact, Wednesday morning reports indicate she had a campaign-ending Tuesday.
But Haley continued to prove that anywhere from about 15% to more than 40% of the Republican Party doesn’t want Donald Trump to be the GOP nominee for the third straight cycle. Haley’s best performance Tuesday was in Vermont, where she beat the former president, 49.9% to Trump’s 45.9%. Haley’s lowest was in the Alaska GOP caucus, where she finished with just 12%.
As recently as Friday, Haley sounded as if she would stay in the race beyond Tuesday’s contests. Her campaign started February with $14.5 million in cash on hand and raised another $12 million that month. Haley bragged about flying commercial while other candidates wasted money on private jets — if needed, she could campaign on a shoestring.
Trump will be the nominee, but Haley has proved that the GOP isn’t quite the Trump “cult” that Trump fans embrace and Trump critics fear. She’s not likely to alter Trump’s approach or attitude — can anything? — but her campaign demonstrated that some strain of non-Trump Republicanism still exists. It just isn’t a majority outside the District of Columbia and Vermont.
A normal front-runner would attempt to build bridges with the supporters of the runner-up and unify the party. Of course, Trump is about as far as it gets from a normal front-runner. He’s still raging about “Birdbrain” on Truth Social.
It’s a shame. After Super Tuesday, there are still 26 states and four territories that haven’t held their Republican presidential primaries or caucuses yet. That includes some delegate-heavy states, including Arizona (43 delegates), Florida (125), Georgia (59), Illinois (64), Ohio (79), New York (91) and Pennsylvania (67).
Had Haley stayed in, she would have given more Republicans and independents and crossover Democrats in those states and territories their opportunity to say, “No, this is not the right direction. Count me out.” Yes, a good portion of these Republicans will likely “come home” in November. Others will shop around for other options, see who the Libertarians nominate, or who No Labels can recruit for an independent bid. (Haley slammed the door on the No Labels option last week.)
Polling continues to indicate that a majority of Americans dread the likely Biden vs. Trump rematch. Well, Haley tried, and gave it her all — and she kept going long after some bigger names with more money called it quits. This may well have been Mission: Impossible, considering Trump’s quasi-incumbent status, the loyalty he inspires among the MAGA crowd and his ruthless vengeance against anyone who dares cross him.
But if you feel like the country is stuck on a train, careening toward a repeat of disputed election results and the type of violence we saw on Jan. 6, 2021, Haley did everything she could to pull the emergency brake.
I suppose Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson on the Democratic side also deserve a shout-out — even though neither one has won a single delegate yet. (Last week, Williamson “unsuspended” her campaign, three weeks after suspending it.) Democrats keep saying they’re worried about President Biden’s age and want a younger nominee. Well, Williamson is a decade younger than Biden, Phillips a quarter-century. Phillips even won his first county on Tuesday night! Cimarron, in the Oklahoma panhandle. He beat Biden, 11 votes to six. And he almost hit 8% in his home state of Minnesota.
A little credit should go to Jason Palmer for winning the American Samoa Democratic caucus, too as soon as anyone can figure out who he is. Wasn’t he the guy who used to play for the Giants and was on “The Bachelor”? Oh, wait, that was Jesse Palmer.
America, if you wanted different nominees than Trump and Biden, you had to come out and vote for them.