This isn’t the Olympics. This is the GOP contest for the presidential nomination — and there are no medals for second place. Although former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is the last contender standing between former President Donald Trump and the Republican nomination, the results in New Hampshire do not bode well for her future.
Haley cast herself as a reasonable alternative to Trump, a traditional Republican who could attract “Never Trump” GOP voters and Independents. The problem with this approach is that most Republican voters do not want an alternative to Trump; they overwhelmingly back him. Polling shows Trump even leads Haley in her home state of South Carolina.
Haley’s campaign suffers from an identity crisis. She presents herself as a moderate, and yet on issues like immigration, she echoes Trump’s hardline positions, including mass deportations of undocumented migrants and finishing the border wall.
She declared that “America has never been a racist country,” despite recounting discrimination that she experienced growing up. While she called for a “national consensus” on abortion, her vague stance on reproductive rights confused voters.
She questioned whether Trump was mentally fit for office and criticized him for “too many lies.” Yet she also suggested that, if elected, she would pardon him. And despite Trump’s bigoted attacks on her heritage (like calling her by a mangled version of her birth name), Haley told CNN’s Dana Bash that she would vote for him if he became the Republican nominee.
How does any of this add up to a coherent message?
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Truth and Reality
Article URL : https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/24/opinions/primary-election-new-hampshire-trump-haley/index.html