Trump makes appeals to the basest, most hateful instincts of aggrieved voters.

sabers at Iran, China, and even Mexico (an ally). She cloaks an alarming agenda in a voice of reason, a she-wolf in moderate’s clothing.

But we could do worse.

As governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017, Haley promoted starkly conservative policies. On her watch, the state was fifth in the nation for childhood poverty and second worst for low birthweight babies. It had no minimum wage other than the federally mandated $7.25 an hour. She explicitly told unionized companies that their jobs were not welcome in her state. Haley refused $11 billion in federal funds to expand Medicaid under Obamacare. She signed a 20-week abortion ban — without exceptions for rape or incest — and defunded Planned Parenthood.

But we could do worse.

Donald Trump isn’t telegraphing his plans to undo our democratic experiment if he wins the 2024 election. He is saying out loud that his second term would be one of hateful instincts of aggrieved voters. He speaks in apocalyptic terms of what will become of America if he doesn’t win. He foresees “a lawless, open-borders, crime-ridden, filthy, communist nightmare” — the “American carnage” he decried in his inaugural address seven years ago. But the true whirlwind awaits if he’s reelected, when the painstakingly assembled facts leading to his two federal indictments — for willfully mishandling classified documents and interfering with the 2020 presidential election results — evaporate in a self-pardon.

That is worse.

Haley, 51, is emerging as a plausible alternative to Trump among Republican primary voters, especially in New Hampshire, where most polls have her in second place and where unenrolled voters can take either ballot in the Jan. 23 primary. She has garnered the support of establishment conservatives such as New Hampshire’s popular governor Chris Sununu, who appears in a campaign ad for her, and the Americans for