The Right Resistance: Delusional Haley loses big in her home state; vows to continue her farce

Nikki Haley is hearing voices.

Or so she says she does. After enduring yet another electoral drubbing yesterday from undisputed 2024 Republican race frontrunner Donald Trump in a primary (or caucus) – the fourth out of four contests where Trump bested 50 percent of the votes cast – Haley might just be hearing voices of a different sort, the shouts of common sense and “Get Out!” resounding even louder than before. Heck, South Carolina is her native state and one where she served as a state legislator and governor not all that long ago, yet Palmetto State residents still chose her opponent over her.

It's humiliating for Haley, but apparently not enough so to put an end to Nikki’s lonely quest. The voices Haley claims to be listening to are actually those in the Never Trump camp, the ones who are so revolted by the former president that they’ve vowed to never support him, even if he’s pitted against the truly heinous America destroyer president senile Joe Biden. It’s a position that doesn’t make much sense for those with a long-term vision, since Biden’s already been president for close to a full term and he's done some rather putrid things to a country that was once regarded as the world’s preeminent bastion of liberty.

Prior to Saturday’s primary, Haley tossed out a number of statements claiming she wasn’t about to quit, perhaps in an effort to keep her forces and supporters motivated and intact – and maybe to prevent her money from drying up. Her anti-Trump pleas had become more and more desperate, seemingly a political voice crying in the wilderness to anyone within wailing distance.

Whatever it was, it didn’t work. Rationalizations galore today in Nikki’s camp. In an article titled “Trump adds to winning streak in South Carolina, puts major dent in Haley’s comeback aspirations”, Seth McLaughlin reported at The Washington Times:

“Former President Donald Trump cruised to victory in the South Carolina Republican primary Saturday, delivering an embarrassing — and perhaps crippling — setback for Nikki Haley in her political backyard.

“The race was called for Mr. Trump shortly after the polls closed at 7 p.m. Early unofficial tallies showed him at 59.8% (451,905 votes) over Ms. Haley’s 39.5% (298,681) as 98% of the precincts were counted. Fifty delegates are at stake in South Carolina, and 1,215 delegates are needed for the nomination. Mr. Trump is undefeated in the opening nomination contests, and barring a surprise, appears to be well on his way to wrapping up the party’s presidential nomination.

“’I have never seen the Republican Party so unified as it is right now,’ Mr. Trump said, taking the stage for his victory speech mere moments after the polls closed. ‘You can celebrate for about 15 minutes, but then we have to get back to work.’ That has been more and more evident on the campaign trail as Mr. Trump has turned his focus toward a general election showdown with President Biden, and written off Ms. Haley as a delusional nuisance.”

Yes indeed. A delusional nuisance describes it well, though the woman has said that she’s hearing voices. The only question remaining is what kind of therapy will help her – or perhaps a semi-permanent commitment to a political funny farm.

In her speech Saturday night, Haley confirmed her intention to go forward as though nothing was different. Why bow out? As long as there’s fire in the furnace – a.k.a., funds in the bank account – why not just campaign forever? You would think the message would translate: Nikki, they just don’t want you.

But it doesn’t. It’s getting kind of humdrum seeing her arrogance and aloofness to reality.

Really, the only thing that was dramatic about the South Carolina primary election was what would Trump’s final margin of victory be and whether he’d carry all of the state’s counties (he didn’t) to demonstrate his broad appeal to the local voters. One almost feels sorry for those having to work the media rounds since Saturday’s “contest” wasn’t going to be competitive at all, and viewers are reduced to having to pay attention to random counties to determine if there was quantifiable resistance to Trump’s triumph.

Or if there were big pockets of Nikki Haley support in her home state. As you would expect, there were a few – in the Columbia area and around southeastern South Carolina (think Hilton Head) -- but not as many as she would’ve hoped for. There are only so many wishy-washy establishment RINO Republicans anywhere, and a place like South Carolina probably has fewer than most.

Which must make Nikki even more bitter than usual. It’s become personal for Nikki Haley. You may recall a time, as a kid (probably), that someone you’re closely associated with said something so personal and hurtful that you gritted your teeth, clenched your fists and got awful red in the face while vowing not only to never talk to that person again, you were hell-bent on seeking revenge and retribution.

Kind of like the Magua character in the 1992 classic movie “Last of the Mohicans”, the rhetorically jilted Haley backers swear they won’t rest until the enemy – in this case, Trump -- and all his MAGA seed are wiped out forever. That’s characteristic of Nikki Haley’s political career now, with her permanent enmity cemented towards Donald Trump for having jokingly questioned her devotion to her deployed overseas husband.

In this understandable but impractical rage, Haley joins a few of Trump’s 2016 rivals, the difference being that they (as individuals) managed to get over the man’s personal slights to, in time, recognize that Trump’s issue platform wasn’t really all that bad and that they’d rather back someone who can help their careers – and lives – than carry a large chip on their shoulders for eternity (which can be a couple months in politics).

It doesn’t need a rehash, but Senator Ted Cruz was still hopping mad at Trump all the way to the 2016 Republican National Convention (in Cleveland, Ohio), even using his primetime speaking slot there to tell voters to “vote their conscience” when it came down to choosing between the GOP nominee and the Democrat standard-bearer (Hillary Clinton). Boos seemingly resounded from the heavens when Cruz uttered the words. It was bad.

Cruz tried to do damage control the next morning, but conservatives were in no mood to forgive Ted at that moment. The Texas senator said something like, “Politics isn’t a team sport” in justifying his continued grudge against Trump, who didn’t act like he was all that put-off by what Cruz had done. Ted almost certainly realized at that moment that he couldn’t find a very large hole to crawl into and simply sit out the rest of the campaign.

Who knows when Nikki Haley will reach a similar realization – or if she ever will. What’s the old William Congreve saying (often misattributed to William Shakespeare)? “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”? Only this time there’s no romantic love between Trump and Haley, but a political bond can be just as strong in some instances, and the intense hurt just as passionate if Nikki feels rejected by a man who once helped her.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, when he left the race weeks ago, reiterated upon leaving that he would carry no ill-will towards Trump going forward, and gave the appearance that bygones were already bygones as far as the 2024 contest was concerned. Why should there be lasting acrimony from a political matchup? It was the voters in the early states who’d made the decision, one that DeSantis couldn’t do anything about.

Gov. Ron had fought the good fight, putting in the hours, making the speeches, participating in the party “debates” and doing everything that a serious candidate should do to try and win the hearts of primary voters. DeSantis simply came up short. By a lot. But DeSantis didn’t want to go on wasting more time and energy on a fruitless cause, which is where he departs from the vindictive Nikki Haley.

As I’ve written quite a lot, Nikki Haley is 2024’s John Kasich. By maintaining a presidential candidacy without a prayer of success, she’s acting like a spoiled child who isn’t going to do what her parents tell her to do no matter what. Her tantrum and subsequent punishment in the corner notwithstanding, Haley has now guaranteed herself a prominent position in the political clown Hall of Fame.

Get some makeup and oversized shoes, Nikki. You’ve already graduated from clown school.

Where do we go from here? Donald Trump campaign aides (Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles) said last week they were already moving beyond the primaries to concentrate on the general election matchup, and that Haley “is irrelevant and not newsworthy — and unworthy of said attention.”

From this point forward, the Trump folks will be leaning on the Republican National Committee to plan a winning convention and do the necessary behind-the-scenes work to ensure a fair vote count.

For Haley? She’s apparently going to continue with her pathetic quest to… do something. But how much credibility can she maintain when she exits the primary season without a single win to her credit. Even loser John Kasich won his home state, something Nikki didn’t even come close to doing on Saturday. One wonders what kind of advice she’s receiving to desire to keep going with this farce.

It’s been mentioned a number of times, but Haley could be keeping her campaign going to serve as a backup choice should something happen to Trump, either in the courtroom or the doctor’s office. Or, as I wrote the other day, she’s keeping skin in the game, so to speak, to leave open the option of possibly joining the “No Labels” movement, where she could keep her campaign’s doors open and persist with the clown show all the way to November!

If the highly improbable were to happen and Trump suddenly couldn’t continue to this year’s general election, Nikki could pop up like a weasel in a barrel and bellow, “Here I am! As the second-place finisher in the primary race, I’m next in line!”

In this, Nikki is delusional. But then again, she admits she’s hearing voices, right?

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