In that post, I made a case for Nikki to win in November, and that it might be better for America if she did, certainly better than a Trump victory, and perhaps better than a Biden win. Unfortunately, as of now this will not be the case, as Haley recently suspended her campaign.
I am not sure if the word suspended was used purposefully, meaning that she could reanimate her campaign should something occur that would make it viable again, perhaps, oh I don't know, maybe Trump being convicted of a felony, but for now she is out of the race. While it will be curious to see how many votes she gets in the next few GOP primaries, as no less than twelve states are still set to hold primaries this month, and I would imagine she will appear on many, if not most of those ballots, Trump is the presumptive nominee and will continue to be so until at least the summer when it is possible that one of the DOJ cases against him go to trial.
Which brings me to the title of this post, the Key to November's Election. Drum roll please......
Nikki Haley!
I don't know if she understands this, don't know if she is cognizant of the power she now possesses, but Nikki Haley can make or break either candidate with her endorsement. Should she capitulate, as virtually every other Republican in Congress has done, and endorse Trump, that may be enough to sway some of the over two and a half million Republican voters who have already cast their vote for her so far in the primaries, to hold their nose and vote for Trump in November.
But if she withholds her endorsement, or actually endorses Biden, those same Haley voters might follow her lead and vote for Biden even though they may disagree with many of his policies.
In other words, if Haley and those who chose her over Trump in the primaries put America first and either leave the president section blank, or actually choose Biden, that could be the difference in the outcome.
One might say that life is nothing if not ironic, so, as I stated in my post Accountability Finally? 2, from early February, wouldn't it be ironic if, as has already been started by strong women, the final die is case on Trump by another strong woman.
At this point, only Nikki Haley knows what she will do. I would like to think that she is considering her decision very carefully. I acknowledge that choosing no endorsement for either candidate, or openly rejecting Trump, will mark the end of her political career as a Republican. But if she chooses to emulate Liz Cheney, should she choose the United States over her personal ambition to be president, that choice in itself could not only save our democracy so that she can run for president again in four years, but also might catapult her to a position of strength in 2028 should the democrats not find a unifying candidate for that race.
I imagine that I will go to my grave and never fully understand the allure of Trump, and why so many millions of Americans would knowingly vote to elect him president despite being convicted of sexual assault, convicted of fraud in his business dealings, been impeached for attempting to extort a foreign leader by dangling military weapons for dirt on a political rival, been caught with classified documents after lying about returning them, and most egregiously, lied about the results of the 2020 presidential election, then incited a mob to attack the United States Capitol while surreptitiously pressuring state and federal officials to "find" votes or just make up electors. Not to mention "jokingly" suggesting he would be a dictator only for one day.
Still, compared to how Nikki Haley may be viewed by future historians who attempt to understand her eventual decision about who to endorse in the 2024 presidential election, I can envision my eventual forgiveness for those in the Trump cult. We are all gullible to some extent, we all fall victim to the occasional scam, we all sometimes sacrifice logic, ignore the obvious, fail to research, or just plain become lazy, especially when the topic is as complicated as democracy.
But Nikki knows better. She knows the danger Trump represents. Knows his demand for loyalty to himself above all, and how that requirement in itself, does not bode well for America. I can only hope that she does not follow the path of most of the men in her party, men who have chosen political relevance over America, men who prefer to gain the crumbs which an autocrat like Trump will drop their way as opposed to the freedom that democracy, messy as it is, offers.
Let's hope Nikki is better than the Ted Cruzes and Mitch McConnells of the world. If not, and Trump is narrowly elected, in part due to her head down, eyes averted compliance to either some sort of party loyalty, or actual deference to Trump to gain some cabinet position, I expect that history may judge her no better than the other myriad enablers who lack the backbone to stand for America and to stand against a dictator wannabe.
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