The Acceptance Stage

Nikki Haley confronts her post-Republican future.

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Nikki Haley speaks with young supporters during a campaign event in North Augusta, South Carolina, on February 21, 2024. (Photo by JULIA NIKHINSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Nikki Haley’s only shot at winning the Republican nomination is to stick around as a candidate for as long as possible and hope that something happens to Donald Trump.

Yet increasingly she’s spending her time saying things about him that guarantee she won’t be acceptable to the grassroots right as the nominee if something actually were to happen to him.

That’s weird, no?

Also weird: Few politicians in the United States, especially in the modern Republican Party, are as disciplined as Haley. She’s run a tight ship organizationally, a model of frugality relative to Ron DeSantis’ failed operation. And she’s unflappable as a retail campaigner, always smiling and always, always on-message.

On Tuesday, her composure finally broke.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Cpwillia

    This: "All that’s to be done is to continue on, speak the truth about Trumpy populism’s foibles, and trust that doing so will matter somehow" reminds me of my Tolkien:

    "Deeds will not be less valiant because they are unpraised."

    "Far above the Ephel Dúath in the West the night-sky was still dim and pale. There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach. His song in the Tower had been defiance rather than hope; for then he was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate, and even his master’s, ceased to trouble him. He crawled back into the brambles and laid himself by Frodo’s side, and putting away all fear he cast himself into a deep untroubled sleep. "

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  2. Kevin M

    I count on Trump and his hand-picked RNC to make Haley's path clear. They'll declare Trump the winner and try to kill the rest of the primaries. At which point she'll need to decide if she'll run as an Independent. Sore-loser laws are seldom enforced in presidential contests, and if the RNC pushes her out, she'll have a great argument that she didn't get to participate in the first place.

    Haley may have no way to get the GOP nomination, but she'll have a LOT more support in the general election. Will it doom her in the future? It didn't doom TR -- he would have been the nominee in 1920 if his heart didn't give out.

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  3. Rblik

    Nikki's candidacy is about defeating Trump in Nov more than it is about getting Nikki nominated. I don't think TD people get that part. So, instead they all pile on Nikki for losing by 20%+........rather than focusing on how Nikki's attacks will hurt Trump in Nov. I don't expect she will endorse Trump either. She has no ties to the GOP anymore, so why bother.

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  4. Kdg

    Third party or bust.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Chris

      This is where I've landed. Libertarians have always been a protest vote that signals anger with GOP. Well I've been pretty mad since 2017

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    2. Kevin M

      Independent would be easier at this time.

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  5. Bwricht

    I must respectfully disagree with the comments where we must either vote against Biden’s policies by falling in line with Trump, or we must show our dissatisfaction with Trump, by voting for Biden.

    Extreme views have taken over both our major parties, to the very real detriment of our nation. Backing either candidate simply empowers those extremists to tighten their ideological grip.

    The only plausible path to forcing these parties to turn away from their extremes, who regularly threaten to withhold their votes unless their list of demands is met, is for the “old fashioned” conservatives and liberals to vote for a third party centrist ticket.

    If a third party can grab just enough electoral college votes to throw the election into the House, it could very well be the shock to the system that the party leaders need to realize that if they lose the center, they lose the election.

    America is at a crossroads - backing extreme political positions in our own party, simply because we hate “the other guy” more, has brought us to the brink.

    This is the year we need a third party. If we can’t drag both parties back towards the middle, our future as a nation looks very bleak indeed.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Chris

      I feel very similar

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    2. Seth.Depenning

      I empathize with this. If the two major parties can ignore the majority of the country that doesn’t want a Trump - Biden rematch with no political consequences, then what incentive do they have to do better?

      They’d squeal about the third party acting as a “spoiler” (as if they’re somehow entitled to our votes), but that’s the point.

      Don’t like third party candidates pulling voters away at your expense? Then get your act together!

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    3. BPhillips

      I strongly disagree - Biden does NOT equal Trump, they aren't in the same league. There is nothing "extreme" about Biden, he's a pretty typical Democrat - who won't pull out of NATO or try to overtun an election.

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      1. Marc Whipple

        That's correct. Third party votes make sense if both major party candidates are unacceptable on policy grounds. But this is an election where one candidate (Trump) is a threat to the country's prosperity, security, and constitutional order. So protest third party votes are a failure of civic duty. A vote for Biden in November is an imperative of good citizenship. We don't live in a time of normal paradigms where third party protest votes are a responsible alternative.

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      2. Eli.Heisey

        He’s also ancient and his VP is extremely left.

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  6. Deleted Comment

    This comment has been deleted

  7. Avatar photo
    John N.

    "...it ends with a meaningful conservative crossover vote for Biden this fall that sinks Trump..."

    That's where I am and where I hope most former Republicans will land.

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    1. Iowafocus

      Me too

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    2. Avatar photo
      Probably Wrong

      I tried it last time. They didn’t get the message, they said it must have been faked.

      Repetition is key to learning.

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  8. Mccumberrick

    I hope Haley stays in the running. We need someone to continue voicing the truth and who holds to what the actual Republican party stands for. I believe the Trumpers are the RINO'S. They are not from the Republican party I signed with over 50 years ago. If suddenly Trump becomes ineligible or something "happens" to him she will be there to take the nomination. If Trump wins the nomination hopefully the party will realize their folly once he loses to Biden again. Never the less God is in control.

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  9. Indisguise

    She says pretty clearly here:
    Nikki Haley for President



    I feel no need to kiss the ring.

    I have NO FEAR of Trump’s retribution.

    I hear what the political class says about my race. But I hear from the American people too.

    The American people know when the country’s future is on the line, you don’t drop out. You keep fighting.

    In fact, you fight harder than ever!

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  10. Shoegazefan

    I'm fairly progressive and subscribe to the Dispatch because I would much rather engage with thoughtful, pro-democracy conservatives than shrill liberals. Although I plan to vote for Biden, and I disagree with Nikki on probably 90% of issues, I would be relieved if she were the Republican nominee. Good on Ukraine and I'd be able to sleep at night.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Scarlette Tarte

      My point of view exactly. I could "tolerate" a Haley presidency (probably).

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