On paper, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley was the first candidate to jump into the doomed race to challenge Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.
In her launch announcement, she suggested she was ready to stomp the former president. “You should know this about me,” she swaggered. “I don’t put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if you’re wearing heels.”
We would have to wait nearly a year for any serious effort by Haley to challenge Trump’s candidacy.
In reality, we would have to wait nearly a year for any serious effort by Haley to challenge Trump’s candidacy, by which point her demise was already assured. Finally coming to terms with reality, NBC News has confirmed Haley will be ending her campaign on Wednesday, the day after being almost completely swept in the Super Tuesday primaries.
And so ends our pathetic excuse of a Republican primary.
As the candidates preached about the high stakes of November’s election, Republican voters were offered little more than a charade.
Like almost all her compatriots, Haley waited months to draw any real contrast with Trump and articulate the risk of putting him back in the White House. While Haley had seemed proud of her late-round swipes at the former president, when it counted — when indictments came down, when he dodged debates, before he left the field in his dust — she was no less timid than the other candidates at the kiddie table.
To her credit, Haley cleared the lowest of bars by running easily the most competent campaign. She honed a disciplined message and rarely deviated. Unlike Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, she didn’t pretend to be a milquetoast version of Trump. She remained true to her brand of conservatism, laying out a clear vision for our government’s role at home and around in the world, even if Republican voters are bored by that sort of thing.
She also proved to be a proficient fundraiser. And she deftly reminded us with references to the “fellas”…
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