As the presidential campaign deadline closes, Nikki Haley is changing her tune.
She’s no longer just attacking Donald Trump, she’s also attacking Republicans who support him.
All of them.
Losing is a kind of centering death, and while Super Tuesday is likely to be her last stand, Haley has been venting her anger at the people she voted for for more than a year.
She couldn’t convince them enough, so now she’s accusing them of not being the right kind of Republican.
“I understand why Republicans are leaving the Republican Party, because we’ve always been about small government and freedom – economic freedom, personal freedom,” Haley told assembled reporters on Friday. Ta.
“I don’t see economic freedom coming from the Republican Party right now.”
In the next breath, she threw the media under the bus and said, We haven’t decided on the primaries, and we haven’t decided on the direction of the country. You talked about Trump. ”
If that wasn’t confusing enough, she claimed she wasn’t against him.
“I’m not anti-Trump,” she insisted.
“This is about the fact that I think America is better than this. And I think the Republican Party is better than this, and I think we can do better than this. ”
Minutes later, she took to the stage at a rally and eviscerated Trump over the national debt, tariffs, threats to leave NATO, and everything else she could think of.
stepped out of step
Even considering Haley has little to lose at this point, her burnout day was extraordinary.
This also explains why she’s actually seeing Republican support decline during the primaries, and why she’s getting so much support from Democrats, some of which may come in November. He revealed that he believed it would be easy to defeat her and wanted to boost her.
Despite Haley’s energy and admirable record of public service, she is out of step with the party she wants to lead.
She doesn’t seem to like it very much, but voters do.
After speaking with reporters in Washington, some said she was calling out a political party that no longer exists.
As Bloomberg News reported, she “lamented the direction of the Republican Party, arguing that it has abandoned its core principles of small government and free markets.”
Naturally, this cut was framed as an American tragedy, as if reporters had great affection for the Republican Party until Trump ruined everything.
If you believe that. . .
In fact, Haley is right that the party has changed.
But she doesn’t seem to understand why it had to be changed.
It would help if she at least recognized that the radical left currently controls Democratic policy and that the collegial Republican approach is doomed to failure.
Like the media, Haley longs for the days when the Republican Party was classy, united and comfortable losing.
With Mr. Trump on the scene, no matter what everyone says about him, most of which is true, his Republican Party is no longer content to lose.
He survived FBI and CIA spies and defeated Hillary Clinton, but is once again under relentless attack from Democratic media and prosecutors.
He’s managed to survive that and become the party’s presidential nominee for the third time in a row.
And let’s not forget that his policy record is far better than President Biden’s, especially on the border and the economy.
Trump’s ace, of course, is that his supporters see in him a defender and street fighter that Mitt Romney or John McCain or either of the Bushes never had. is.
And despite her racial background and pioneering efforts to break through the party’s glass ceiling, Ms. Haley looks more like Republican candidates of yesteryear than Ms. Trump.
Her temperament and policies are why many Trump supporters refer to her as a RINO, a Republican in name only.
This is the ultimate insult, given to those willing to compromise with Democrats in exchange for a favor.
No one who believes this kind of give-and-take Democratic Party still exists is paying attention.
Democrats unite
Three examples of how today’s Democratic Party is upholding the harsh rules once imposed on Soviet leaders: What’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is negotiable.
First, despite the historically close margins in the House and divisions within the party, Republicans took the unusual step of expelling their own member, George Santos, after he was indicted on federal charges.
Democrat Tom Suozzi recently won a special election for the New York state seat.
By comparison, Democrats control the extremely tight Senate, but there was no pressure to oust fellow New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez. Menendez was indicted on more serious charges, including being a foreign agent.
Second, consider how both sides view impeachment.
The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, ratcheted up the charges against Trump over the Ukraine issue during his presidency, creating two articles of impeachment.
Both were approved, with only two Democrats voting against the first bill and only three Democrats voting against the second.
Ten Republicans joined all Democrats in voting in favor of Trump’s second impeachment after January 6, and Republican Rep. Liz Cheney became the chief architect of the subsequent House hearings.
Republicans now control the House, but they are having a hard time even impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for refusing to secure border security.
The first vote failed by a tie, and the second vote succeeded by one vote, as all the Democrats who voted against it were joined by three Republicans.
Notice how Democrats are coming together to win big votes, no matter their differences.
When it came to impeaching Joe Biden for corrupt Planned Parenthood, Republicans struggled to get a majority of lawmakers to support a formal impeachment inquiry.
All Democrats voted against it.
During the hearings, Democrats have derailed witnesses, downplayed their testimony, and banded together to protect the president despite evidence that Biden participated in the plan.
It doesn’t matter that testimony and bank records show he received funds from foreign clients from his brother Jim Biden.
There is no Democratic version of Liz Cheney willing to break ranks, and there is no Republican enough support to consider an impeachment vote.
ruthless politics
Third, the unprecedented move to prosecute and bankrupt Trump has resulted in indictments and civil lawsuits filed by New York, Georgia, and federal authorities, all led by Democrats.
Additionally, many blue states have considered or attempted to prohibit President Trump from appearing on the ballot.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule on this issue soon.
Lest anyone think this legal attack is coordinated, the New York Times reported two years ago that Biden was unhappy that Attorney General Merrick Garland had not prosecuted Trump. It was reported that there was.
Immediately, Garland saluted and obeyed.
In the Georgia case, lead prosecutor Fani Willis apparently hired a lover to lie under oath.
Records show Willis & Co. spent many days at the White House, suggesting Biden’s aides helped directly prosecute his Republican opponent.
That’s the united, ruthless front the Republicans are up against, and that’s why Trump, and Trump alone, will be the final candidate.
