CNN Suggests Nikki Haley Might Win This Thing, Just Like Gary Hart In 1984!
Not sure we agree 100 percent with their police work.
Republican Doug Burgum ended his presidential campaign Monday, shattering the dreams of tens of voters. After his devastating announcement at what I assume was a Starbucks drive-through, the big question now — aside from “who’s Doug Burgum?” is who’ll swoop in and secure his one percent of support in primary polls?
It doesn’t matter, of course, because Donald Trump is leading most polls by more than 40 percentage points, and his two closest competitors, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, are duking it out for a distant second.
But what if Haley could win? That’s the hope that keeps political pundits employed. There’s air time to fill, and once you’ve reported all the breaking “Joe Biden’s really old” news, all that’s left is this horse race straight to the glue factory.
Monday, CNN’s Sara Sidner asked polling whiz Harry Enten, “How far behind is Nikki Haley, and is there some sort of historical example as to what might be her path to a win?” I might’ve answered those questions with “laughably far behind” and “not even in an Aaron Sorkin fairy tale,” but Enten is far more optimistic.
See, Haley has “momentum” or “Haley-mentum” if you’re feeling sassy. Trump is far ahead, but Haley is trending in the right direction. Hell, by the time Trump’s running for his fifth term in office, she might be within striking distance.
Noting that Haley has whittled Trump’s lead in Iowa and New Hampshire down to just 27 and 22 percent respectively, Enten said, “The idea is that you win and do better in Iowa than expected, and win New Hampshire and then take off nationally.”
Enten, who was born in 1988, offered a recent precedent for his theory: During the 1984 Democratic primary when Gary Hart “finished stronger than expected” in Iowa. That “catapulted” him to a nine-point win in New Hampshire, where he’d previously been down by 42 points. Walter Mondale’s significant national lead collapsed and the two fought it out until June, when Mondale had a huge delegate lead and Hart started begging for a vice presidential slot. (He didn’t get it and Mondale went on to lose to Ronald Reagan in an epic rout.) That might somehow inspire Haley, except for the part where Trump is a deranged fascist cult leader who will sic his violent mob on her if she ever comes within 10 points of him.
However, Ron DeSantis remains worried about Haley-mentum, which seems reasonable after Gavin Newsom stuffed him into a locker on live TV last week. DeSantis has started losing the Republican primary to Democrats who aren’t even running for president. That’s how his campaign is going.
In advance of Wednesday’s debate, which will have as many viewers as participants, DeSantis is smearing Haley as the worst thing ever, a commie liberal. That should work for anyone who’s susceptible to obvious lies, so it’s a probably a sound strategy in a Republican primary.
“I think what Haley has done is she’s gotten a lot of support from corporate media, and she’s gotten a lot of support now from Wall Street interests,” he said during a Newsmax appearance. “But that typically is not how it resonates in Iowa, and what I would just say is she clearly is not a conservative. I think if you look at her record as South Carolina governor, people can’t even identify any major achievements that she had.”
Yeah, she was a do-nothing governor and what does a do-something governor like DeSantis think is important?
“She actually killed a bill to protect girls and women in bathrooms and locker rooms, which we know has been a big issue. I signed similar, I signed legislation protecting girls and women athletes. She actually attacked me for standing up against Disney when we had the issue with the sexualization of the elementary school curriculum.”
Yes, back in 2016, Haley said she saw no need for an anti-trans bathroom bill in South Carolina. This was not an affirmative declaration of support for the trans community but just a basic awareness that the horrible “bathroom bill” in North Carolina had backfired and would later cost Republican Gov. Pat McCrory his job.
Haley once governed like a pro-business corporate stooge. She was never quite the Internet troll DeSantis is. She’s still terrible. Also, there is no such thing as the “sexualization of the elementary school curriculum,” so I leave you with this clip.
Hey, everyone, please stop with the Nikki Haley is a brown woman with a foreign-sounding name comments. We get it, but considering she was governor of South Carolina, I think her issue is more that she's not sufficiently MAGA now. She could look like Liz Cheney and, well, we know what happened to Liz Cheney.
Nikki Haley has already told us, explicitly, that she would support Trump if he was the nominee.
And that is all anyone ever needs to know about Nikki Haley.