Nikki Haley Jumps in With Both Heels
The former South Carolina governor is now the second Republican in what could be another crowded field.
Nikki Haley is running for president. The Republican former governor of South Carolina and UN ambassador jumped into the race with an expected announcement early this morning, saying, “It’s time for a new generation of leadership to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border, and strengthen our country, our pride, and our purpose.” She’ll follow up her video announcement with a rally in Charleston before heading to Iowa and New Hampshire.
Haley thus becomes the first official challenger to former President Donald Trump, who announced his own bid in November. It’s also worth noting that Haley’s bid begins with a broken promise. In April 2021, she flatly stated, “I would not run if President Trump ran.”
That was just a couple of months after Haley criticized Trump over the January 6 Capitol riot, for which she declared he would be “judged harshly by history.” She also asserted, “He’s not going to run for federal office again.”
Potential presidential candidates play coy with their intentions all the time, and maybe that’s all Haley meant at the time. Indeed, her approach to the question of running against Trump began shifting all throughout the rest of 2021 and 2022. Or maybe she just changed her mind, which we’ve been told a woman is entitled to do.
“Go by your heart if you want to run,” Trump said he told Haley in January, though he has since begun taking shots at his first official rival.
Her argument for herself over the former president in some ways boils down to age. Everyone harps on the obvious cognitive decline of 80-year-old Joe Biden, but at 76 Trump is no spring chicken. “The survival of America matters,” the 51-year-old Haley said earlier this year. “And it’s bigger than one person. And when you’re looking at the future of America, I think it’s time for a new generational change. I don’t think you need to be 80 years old to go be a leader in DC. I think we need a young generation to come and step up and really start fixing things.”
In her announcement video, she worked to connect with voters who are disillusioned with the painful decline of our country over the last couple of years. And she touted her toughness and femininity as the solution. “The socialist left sees an opportunity to rewrite history,” Haley said. “China and Russia are on the march. They all think we can be bullied. Kicked around. You should know this about me: I don’t put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if you’re wearing heels.”
Get excited! Time for a new generation.
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) February 14, 2023
Let’s do this! 👊 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/BD5k4WY1CP
In short, she’s saying she’s not so much running against Trump as she is to continue what he started.
An interesting element for Haley is her autobiography: “I was the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. Not black, not white, I was different.” Born in South Carolina and named Nimrata Randhawa, Haley didn’t bring up her roots to harp on skin color the way Democrats do, but to say that being an American is far more than your level of melanin. “My mom would always say your job is not to focus on the differences but the similarities,” she said, “and my parents reminded me and my siblings every day how blessed we were to live in America.”
Later in the video, she directly rebutted the identity politics of the Left: “Some think our ideas are not just wrong, but racist and evil. Nothing could be further from the truth.” She pointed to the evil in China, Iran, and elsewhere before asserting, “Even on our worst day, we are blessed to live in America.”
So, will her spunk and her solidly conservative record be enough to win the nomination? Voters will have to answer that. She’s a serious contender who’s never lost an election, but she’s also going to face stiff competition. Trump has, of course, announced, but most observers expect coming bids by Mike Pence, Ron DeSantis, Mike Pompeo, Tim Scott, and maybe half a dozen other Republicans. As in 2016, the more crowded the field, the more Trump benefits.
Update: Haley went right after the age issue again in her official kickoff speech Wednesday.
“Today our enemies think that the American era has passed. They’re wrong. America is not past our prime, it’s just that our politicians are past theirs.”
“We won’t win the fight for the 21st century if we keep trusting politicians from the 20th century.”
Political analyst Jim Geraghty is among those making the case to at least give Haley a chance.
Many conservatives, however, are struggling with finding the real rationale for Haley’s candidacy — besides maybe running for vice president. Kurt Schlichter, for example, wrote a piece titled, “No to Nikki Harris.” He made a number of fair points, though it goes a little far to compare Haley with Kamala Harris as he does. And at times, it seems to devolve into little more than a nasty screed evincing Haley Derangement Syndrome.
And then there’s Ann Coulter, who bizarrely told the American-born Haley to “go back to your own country.” Is she trying to prove race-bating Democrats correct?
Oh well. This is why we have primaries — so voters, not the commentariat, can decide who wins the nomination.
