Nikki Haley is talking Trump trials, money, NATO. But do Republicans hear her? | Opinion
Nikki Haley says she’s the only Republican who can beat President Joe Biden.
But Donald Trump says the same thing, and more Texans believe him.
So instead of winning Republican Party primaries, Haley’s campaign is stuck in mud, like a shrimp boat off the South Carolina shore.
On the weekend before early voting starts in Texas’ low-key March primary, Haley came to Dallas to try to distract Republicans from the bright shiny object that is Trump, even though her only hope of winning the GOP presidential nomination is many courthouse trials away.
More than ever, Trump can’t afford to lose.
Even if he slips in the polls, he still needs campaign donations to pay judgments, defense attorneys and debts.
Haley hammered away about that, but lots of Texas Republicans don’t want to hear it.
“He’s spent $50 million in campaign contributions on his own personal court cases. ... We have to be able to beat Joe Biden,” Haley said in an interview that will air at 9 a.m. Sunday on WFAA/Channel 8 and stream on wfaa.com during “Inside Texas Politics.”
Earlier, she had made a get-real prediction.
“There will be a female president of the United States,” she said. “It will either be me, or it will be [Vice President] Kamala Harris.”
Haley told the Dallas crowd everything she says in every stump speech.
She said Trump represents “four more years of chaos” in a world “on fire.”
That fire was stoked a week ago, when Trump told a South Carolina rally how he once warned a NATO military ally to pay a share toward defense or he would encourage Russia to “do whatever the hell they want.”
It sounded like less of a demand and more of a threat.
Trump defended the line in a midweek speech but also said it differently: “Look, if they’re not going to pay, we’re not going to protect. OK?”
Haley served two years as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations.
Trump “is siding with a man who kills his political opponents,” she said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin — “It’s dangerous.”
She described Putin as a thug who “has made no bones about wanting to defeat America. And you’re siding with that thug.”
In the WFAA interview, Haley also fielded questions about guns and abortion laws.
Mass shootings usually are the result of a mental health crisis, she said, answering a question about recent shootings at a Houston church and after the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory parade.
But that wasn’t a direct answer. Even though Lakewood Church shooter Genesse Moreno once sought mental healthcare and had a long misdemeanor criminal record, she was never committed to a hospital or convicted of a felony. Gun-rights advocates would argue that she had every right to buy a gun.
In Missouri, two adults face charges in connection with the parade shootings that killed one woman and directly or indirectly injured 22 paradegoers, many of them children. That shooting was the result of a dispute, police say.
On abortion, Haley’s response was on point, even if it might not be a popular one with Texas Republicans.
Asked about Dallas-area resident Kate Cox, who had to leave the state to end what her doctors called a nonviable pregnancy, Haley said Texas should change the law.
“I hurt for her at the thought of that,” Haley said. “I had trouble having both of my children, so I absolutely hurt for her. ... I think Texas now needs to look at that law and say, ‘What can we do to make sure that never happens to another woman?’ ”
Texas’ Republican leaders would reply that they don’t want abortion to end another pregnancy unless it’s to save a life.
“When you do these laws, it’s more than just about being pro-life or pro-choice,” Haley said.
“It’s about humanizing these issues, not demonizing these issues.”
I doubt many Texas Republicans are listening.
This story was originally published February 17, 2024 at 12:18 PM.
