Normally, on this blog, I discuss public policy without referring to the personalities involved. But the U.S. presidential primary voting season has now started and so personalities are hard to avoid! A recent survey has discovered that 67% of voters do not want a Biden/Trump rematch. A recent WSJ article concludes that such a rematch shows how far U.S. democracy has fallen. Our country now has a viable alternative: Nikki Haley remains in the Republican Primary along with Donald Trump.
Consider the huge contrasts between them:
- Trump had an 11-point victory margin over Haley in New Hampshire. Trump won 75% of Republicans, but Haley won 60% of independents, crucial for a Republican victory in November. If Trump is convicted of a felony, 42% of New Hampshire voters and a third of Iowa’s caucus goers said Trump would be unfit for the presidency.
- At a time when America often appears weak around the world, Haley, but not Trump, supports continuing to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian invasion. Such support for democracy is critical in deterring our autocratic adversaries.
- Haley, as opposed to Trump, understands that we have a huge debt problem, and that entitlement reform (SS and Medicare) is crucial for seriously addressing it.
- Right now, as voters around the country start paying more attention, she needs a strong rationale for why she is qualified to be president. How about a freedom agenda: free from failing schools and DEI mandates, free from social media censorship, free from smash-and-grab robberies, free from unchecked illegal immigration, federal overspending, and tyrannical bureaucrats.
- A large part of the Trump problem is his highly disorganized way of doing business. Haley responds, “You can’t defeat Democrat chaos with Republican chaos. And that’s what Donald Trump gives us.”
Conclusion. Nikki Haley is now Donald Trump’s only remaining competition in the Republican Presidential Primary. She will become an intense focus of attention in the coming days. She can give American voters what they are overwhelmingly looking for in November 2024: an alternative to choosing between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
For my Email Newsletter
Follow me on Facebook
Follow me on Twitter
It Does Not Add Up 
If the election 2024 is a rerun of 2020, the nation is doomed. While Poop-tin and the Korean Runt are as nuts as Frump, Xi Jen-ping-pong is not. And he is smart than those others.
I mostly agree with you, but there is at least one mitigating factor. While Russia, Iran, and North Korea are spoilers, i.e. failed states who just want to bring us down, China benefits from the established world order and so is unlikely to try to overthrow it. In other words, even though both Biden and Trump would both be poor second-term presidents, I think that our country will survive either of them and recover afterwards.