Nikki Haley has announced her intent to run for president. She is challenging Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. But she’s just the first of many Republicans expected to do so.
Of course, she distinguished herself by taking down the Confederate flag. She did so while serving as governor of South Carolina in 2015. And there’s no denying the character and courage she displayed back then.
Nikki Haley cannot be president
Haley sold her character and courage to join Donald Trump’s presidency. She might have even sold her soul.
After all, Trump demanded complete loyalty to him. That meant doing his bidding – the Constitution and even God be damned. Haley had no compunction about striking this Faustian bargain. That’s how much she wanted to serve as his UN ambassador.
But it seems minorities have to belittle themselves to make it big in the Republican Party. That explains Justice Clarence Thomas’s self-hating rulings. It also explains Sen. Tim Scott’s self-hating rhetoric.
That is the only way they can distinguish themselves nationally. But it makes them too eager to please. So they often say and do racist things no self-respecting White would ever say or do.
That explains Haley insisting the notoriously racist Trump is not a racist. Of course, saying that was self-hating enough. But this Indian American is going further. She’s insisting that Trump spent his presidency bridging America’s racial divide.
That reeks of Trumpian gaslighting. Even worse, it’s embarrassing. And it makes a mockery of the character and courage Haley displayed when she took down the Confederate flag.
But Haley knows she’s a sellout. That’s why she’s trying to rationalize her racial self-hatred. For example, she’s insisting today’s “outrage culture” would make it impossible for any governor to take down that flag. That’s how far she’s lost her way.
Liz Cheney she is not
Frankly, I don’t see why anyone in their right mind (Republican or Democrat) would care what Haley has to say. Now she wants to be courageous like Liz Cheney by standing up to Trump. But Haley spent too much time being a sycophant like Lindsey Graham by kissing up to Trump.
That’s why her presidential bid is doomed. Hell, it might be even more ill-fated than the one Michael Avenatti flirted with for 2020.