Haley outperforms Trump

Simply put, just yesterday, the Wall Street Journal published a New Hampshire poll with Donald Trump defeating Nikki Haley 60% to 39%. But the final results are trending much closer. 

That means Haley will outperform expectations. And that’s why she rushed to set the narrative by declaring a “big-mo” victory. 

Of course, Bill Clinton set the precedent in 1992 for spinning a second place in this primary into victory. The media hailed him as “the comeback kid” even though Paul Tsongas defeated him 33% to 25%. 

The projected results have Trump defeating Haley 55% to 45%.

Wither the Iowa Caucuses

Iowa was reputed to have a ‘full Grassley’ requirement, demanding candidates campaign across all 99 counties. Donald Trump showed utter contempt for that requirement.

Despite this, Iowans awarded him a historic win, making a mockery of their own reputation. Even worse, this reinforced Trump’s transformation of the Republican Party – from a God-fearing, law-and-order political party into a shyster-worshiping, neo-fascist personality cult. 

Ron DeSantis pleaded with Iowans to reward him for doing the “full Grassley.” But they made as much a mockery of him as they did of their reputation.

That’s why, henceforth, only a fool would emulate the loyalty DeSantis showed Iowa. Because, despite the contempt Trump showed, Iowa rewarded him “like nobody has ever seen.”

Mind you, if the Republican Party had any integrity left, it would follow the Democratic Party by stripping Iowa of its prized first-in-the-nation status. However, it won’t because Trump has already stripped the Republican Party of all pride and principle. 

Meanwhile, I cannot overstate that Trump won only 50% of the 14% of predominantly White Iowa Republicans who bothered to vote. Yet, the media hailed him as the presumptive nominee. Frankly, they seemed to be doing their damnedest to make a second Trump presidency a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Long live the New Hampshire Primary

Kudos to New Hampshire for living up to its reputation as the “live free or die” state. Because its voters effectively pissed on Trump’s parade towards a nomination that could herald him as the first would-be dictator in US history.

Haley pleaded that she was only joking when she said New Hampshire would correct Iowa’s results. But she was right because, as today’s results affirm, that is invariably the case.

So congratulations to Haley for winning enough votes to become the first genuine “comeback kid” since Bill Clinton. 

That said, Haley needs to sharpen her stump speech. For starters, instead of saying, “Rightly or wrongly, chaos follows Trump,” she should say,

Trump creates chaos everywhere he goes. Think what you will of Jeb Bush, but he was right in 2020 when he warned that Trump would be Captain Chaos. But it’s time to end the chaos and move on.