Nikki Haley’s formal entry into the 2024 presidential campaign makes it a good time to review her chances with Republicans — along with those of any other aspirant not named Trump or DeSantis.
There is no doubt that former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are the leaders for the Republican nomination.
Trump has announced a third bid for the presidency a couple of months ago, while DeSantis has not said whether he’ll run. Right now Trump and Haley are the only confirmed GOP candidates.
Some political ad
visers think Haley made a mistake by getting in the race too early. They believe it will give Trump the chance to belittle her, the way he did so effectively to his opponents in 2016.
That could happen. One of Trump’s most obvious character flaws is that he never knows when to pipe down. He also may not realize that this campaign will be different than 2016’s.
Meanwhile, Haley has a pretty solid record to run on, and she seems like a politician who is willing to respond to criticism.
But if Haley had a stumbling block, it would be Trump himself. In 2016 she supported Sen. Marco Rubio for the Republican nomination, and then Sen. Ted Cruz. Only after they dropped out did she get behind Trump, even though she had criticized some of his divisive comments.
Trump picked her to lead the U.S. delegation at the United Nations, where by all accounts she was a strong advocate for American interests during her two years there. Yet she again criticized Trump in 2021 for taking no action to protect Vice President Mike Pence during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Haley also said last year she would not run for the presidency if Trump did. But here we are.
Despite the Trump-related waffling, there is much to like about her. Nothing stands out more than her support in 2015, after a young white supremacist killed nine Black people attending a church Bible study in Charleston, S.C., for the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the state Capitol.
It’s easy for a governor to take a stand on an issue that his or her base supports. It’s harder to say, as Haley did eight years ago, that the killer had hijacked the Rebel flag, and it no longer represented all people in South Carolina. The Legislature backed her up.
One more interesting thing to note: Haley was born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa in South Carolina, the daughter of first-generation immigrants. She was raised in the Sikh religion, married Michael Haley in 1996 and converted to Christianity in 1997. She would have more insight into the country’s ongoing immigration argument than any other presidential candidate. But would her full name give pause to voters who could not accept Barack Hussein Obama?
As for 2024, it’s too soon to anoint Trump or DeSantis. Bill Clinton was not the early favorite in 1992, nor was Obama in 2008 or Trump in 2016. So Haley might be wise to jump in now. It gives her more time to make her case.
Jack Ryan, Enterprise-Journal
