This observer admits to once harboring a political fantasy about a future Republican presidential administration. It was a kind of ministry of all the talents, an administration of the very best the current Republican Party has to offer. This observer will also admit that he was (and is once again by default) a Trump man, a MAGA hat. But Trump wasn’t the president in this fantasy administration.
MAGA Meets Nikki Haley
I wanted Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, slayer of Democrats and Disney in the White House. I’d make Georgia Governor Brian Kemp the vice president. The man twice defeated wannabe Star Trek Federation president and election denier Stacey Abrams, not to mention President Trump’s handpicked loser, Sonny Purdue. What happened to picking the best people, Mr. President? The Department of Defense needs a straight man, and there’s no straighter man than former Vice President Mike Pence. Pence is also a former congressman and governor and could surely run the DoD. The easy pick for attorney general would be former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, for whom I twice voted. But no, this observer wanted the consummate Jersey boy and all his attitude at the United Nations, holding down Nikki Haley’s old job, fighting for America against the kleptocracy at Turtle Bay. As for Nikki Haley, she’d have been Secretary of State.
As this observer writes, Haley is having another disastrous election night. Haley has lost the South Carolina presidential primary, her third contest in a row. Right now President Trump has 60 percent of the vote to Haley’s 39. That’d be an embarrassing result in any state, much less Nikki Haley’s home state of South Carolina. By rights, Haley should drop out of the race. Yet she tweeted tonight, ‘I’m a woman of my word. I’m not giving up this fight when a majority of Americans disapprove of both Trump and Biden.’ Who’s she trying to kid? More importantly, who’s vote is Haley trying to win. And what year does she think it is?
GOP of 2012 vs 2024
Nikki Haley would have been a great presidential candidate in 2004 or even 2012, the olde GOP. That’s the GOP interested in business-friendly policies, low taxes, entitlement reform (something which the party has never, ever been able to deliver), and a robust national defense. That’s the GOP that wanted to talk about Ronald Reagan and quote Margaret Thatcher. That’s the GOP which would have thought Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s border/Ukraine compromise was a great deal. It was a terrible deal that would have allowed 5,000 illegal migrants into the country per day, and counted on Joe Biden to control the border. McConnell’s compromise had precious little for the southern border but tens of billions for Ukraine.
McConnell’s compromise was what I would call neoconservatism – a term I expand into domestic affairs. In the 90’s, neoconservatism was about domestic policy ideas like school choice and entitlement reform. These were ideas that required a lot of explanation and could very easily be distorted by the unscrupulous. See for example the Democrats ‘Mediscare’ campaign of the 90’s or ‘throwing granny off a cliff’ from the Paul Ryan era. In 2016 Donald Trump said simple things like Make America Great Again and America would build a wall, and Mexico will pay for it. A Revolt of the GOP’s conservative base killed McConnell’s compromise. Haley sensed the political wind and, after criticizing Trump for trying to stop the border bill, eventually called for changes. A chastened and humiliated McConnell ended up opposing his own bill.
Since 9/11 and the Forever Wars, neoconservatism is usually associated with foreign policy. This observer has written in this space before that neoconservative foreign policy has been disastrous. From Afghanistan to Iraq, to Syria, to Libya, neoconservative foreign policy ideas have led to piles of rubble and carpets of bodies. Today, the GOP base has little appetite for foreign ventures and wonders why their sons and daughters should fight for a leadership that scolds it. The Wall Street Journal reports that 56% of GOP primary voters in South Carolina oppose more money for Ukraine. Of course, Nikki Haley wants to pour billions more into Ukraine.
Despite what the donor class and old-line conservative punditry think, the conservative base has been Trumpified. Nikki Haley is running for the nomination of a party that no longer exists. She has no constituency within the GOP. She’s Liz Cheney with a southern accent. No wonder so many Democrats are donating to her campaign.
About the Author
William Stroock has been a history teacher and an adjunct professor of history. He is the author of the books Pershing in Command: A Study of the American Expeditionary Force, Israel at War and Her Enemies, and over a dozen novels including the World War 1990: Series and The Austrian Painter: What if Germany Won the Great War?
