Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, represents the Republican Party’s best hope for defeating Donald Trump. While many haters and pundits have criticized Haley for her recent Slavery “blunder” in the Civil War The reality is that in the Republican primary, voters are unlikely to punish her considering the recent state of the party as a whole. crusades against topics such as “critical race theory.”
Let’s be clear when reviewing the non-Haley candidates: we have Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, whose entire organization has been imploding for weeks. The provocateur Vivek Ramaswamy cannot even qualify for the next debate. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is betting the house on a strong performance in New Hampshire, but he failed secure support from Gov. Chris Sununu, who endorsed Haley. He also supports Haley on Koch with a lot of money political network.
The inescapable truth is that the future of the Republican Party and democracy depends on removing Trump from the ticket by defeating him in the primaries, and the only way that can realistically happen is if the Republican primary field consolidates and endorses to Haley. Since Haley was Trump’s choice to be his ambassador to the United Nations, no one can argue with his conservative credentials.
Republican primary voters, those who have not fully embraced MAGA, need a viable alternative to Trump, not a group of weak candidates who simply failed to launch. The question is whether the weak and fragmented Republican Party is doomed to repeat the mistakes of 2016.
Imagine how different things could have been if Sens. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Lindsay Graham and former Govs. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Jeb Bush of Florida saw the writing on the wall, accepted reality and rallied around one candidate to defeat Trump in 2016. Now DeSantis, Christie, Ramaswamy and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson face a similar scenario. .
Haley could be that candidate, since none of the others have a chance. Now it’s time for the losers to drop out of the race and endorse Haley, before they officially lose in Iowa and New Hampshire. The more the field divides, the stronger Trump becomes.
Staying in the race is the best way to incite Trump’s dictatorial ambitions. And for those who have already dropped out of the race like Mike Pence and Senator Tim Scott, not supporting an alternative to Trump is basically an endorsement of Trump.
If the field narrows to just Haley and Trump, Haley would have a real chance to hurt it. Trump’s toxic ego would make it difficult for him to avoid one-on-one debates with Haley. If there is any chance to dethrone Donald, it will be on a debate stage, where Haley has proven to be incredibly effective.
For years, Republican leaders have let Trump run roughshod over the entire Republican apparatus. They all pretended they couldn’t do anything to stop him or his MAGA base. They chose to embrace his movement out of cowardice and political gain. Now the threat to democracy is even more serious than on January 6, 2021, when insurrectionists, led by Trump, stormed the United States Capitol. Unless he is defeated in the primaries, democracy will continue to be attacked by his lies and more violence should he lose the November general election.
The issues that Republicans and Democrats disagree on (abortion, guns, climate change, taxes, equality, health care, immigration) don’t really matter if we don’t have a democracy to hold those debates. As much as I disagree with Republicans on these issues, I still believe that our system works best when we have two functional political parties rooted in truth, facts, and reality rather than conspiracy theories, election denialism, and dictatorial goals. .
It’s ironic that the Republican Party, which brought the nation to this point, now has the best chance of preserving democracy, not the Democrats.
We’ll see if the group of Republican challengers will line up behind Trump once he tops the table in the first primaries. Maybe they’re all vying for positions in his cabinet. Or maybe some of them will do the right thing and endorse the best candidate to challenge Trump in the coming weeks.
What we do know: A multi-candidate Republican primary is not a contest, but rather sets the stage for a coronation of Donald Trump.
Kurt Bardella is a contributing writer for Opinion. He is a Democratic strategist and former top adviser to Republicans on the House Oversight Committee. @KurtBardella
