55 Comments

This is the most informative article I've ever read about Nikki Haley. What I've seen before about her did indeed seem to be mostly about her 'identity politics' 'features'. Plus, she looks polished and seems articulate, so I had assumed she must have some sort of accomplishments, tho I'd never actually heard about any.

But Don, you've pulled together all the pieces and put them in perspective. She truly is an empty suit, mainly concerned with selfish ambition. Her governorship is mostly a wasted opportunity. She could have been taking on the Marxist Left with courage and speaking out boldly like DeSantis and helped to change the trajectory of the country. She failed to do so, and has not earned a promotion to President.

And I love how you demolished Geoff Duncan's three arguments for Haley. I swear, Don Surber's political writing is among the very best on the Internet. If everyone in the country read him regularly, we would definitely not be in the mess we are in.

Expand full comment

Agree wholeheartedly.

Expand full comment

I concur!

Expand full comment

Nikki Haley... hail no! We don’t need her. We need a patriotic powerful leader who will take all the slings and arrows and stand firm and resolute. America first! Jail all the evil ones that are destroying our beautiful America. Pull no punches! Do shat it takes. Damn the torpedoes. Restore our constitutional republic. End of discussion. Trump remains my man!

Expand full comment

If Haley won, it would be open borders, war mongering and globalism. I don’t want a fourth term of Bathhouse Barry but a second term of MAGA.

Expand full comment
Feb 22, 2023·edited Feb 22, 2023Liked by Don Surber

Nikki needs... well, Nikki. She says "It's time for a new generation." while representing the NeverTrump generation. Right. No thanks. Grifter 101.

I am only a couple years her senior, but she does not represent Gen X and other Normal Americans.

Expand full comment

No, she does not. I don't think she is a Gen Xer.

Expand full comment
Feb 22, 2023Liked by Don Surber

It is a good thing she is running for POTUS. If it were just DJT, there would be no news of a republican running for office in 2024. Our state news Pravda has erased him and his accomplishments. Nikki has zero shot of winning, as she represents the war mongering Neo-cons.

Like "Republican" Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, I bet she would do nothing about America's Chernobyl in Palestine, OH. At least Gorbachev in the former USSR made sure to get his countrymen out.

Expand full comment
Feb 22, 2023Liked by Don Surber

She's a token. I hope South Park gives her the treatment.

Expand full comment

She isn't prominent enough to warrant their treatment.

Expand full comment

Doesn't matter. It would be a good episode in the South Park tradition.

Expand full comment
founding

"'Why not me?'"

If that's the first and/or only answer, hang it up, now.

"'These are the people who are supposed to be with me. These are the people who are supposed to be moving South Carolina forward.'"

No, BOTH parties ought to upholding both the US and state constitutions while doing the people's business.

I wonder if this whole CNN "controversy wasn't staged to give Little Nikki a boost.

Expand full comment

"I wonder if this whole CNN "controversy wasn't staged to give Little Nikki a boost."

I don't know about this, but I do know that Don Lemon learned a hard lesson about the "victim olympics" pecking order.

Expand full comment
founding

"Victim Olympics"!! I LOVE that!!

"Don Lemon learned a hard lesson about the...pecking order."

I'd really would like to think he did! I'm not so sure, though - when anything EVEN CLOSE to that on FauxNews, that talking head is off the air indefinitely, likely not to return. Lemon got what – 3 days, and a "re-education" session? Again, I suspect it was more window-dressing than any kind of legitimate reprimand.

Expand full comment

CNN wouldn't likely come down too hard on Lemon since his objective, after all, was to criticize a Republican.

Expand full comment

Now that's the interesting part. Nikki Haley is a virtue-signalling Republican depending on her identity (and thereby very much into the id-pol ideology) and toeing the establishment line. In other words, that complicates matters for Lemon. He thought, like you do, that *all* Republicans are fair game, but Nikki Haley is very palatable to the establishment, which gives her a certain level of immunity from criticism from the media.

Expand full comment

As an independent voter (previously slightly left of center before the Democrats grabbed the center and ran to the coast with it), Nikki Haley is everything that made me dislike the Republican Party. She's a war monger who licks the boots of the establishment and big business while make culture war grunting noises.

For example, take her comment that the "Don't Say Gay Bill" didn't go far enough. The bill was fixed the problem I as an independent see without going off the deep end. Furthermore as a tactical move, it was quite brilliant. It is so moderate that when you see the freakout on the left and then you read the bill, you ask, "Really? This is what you have your panties in a wad over? Seems reasonable to me." It shows a level of intelligence and restraint most Republicans can't exercise in culture war issues, but DeSantis did.

On the other hand, like others, I don't like the "Why not me?" answer. Vivek Ramaswamy announced last night on Tucker Carlson that he is running. I don't know that he will win, but Nikki could take a lesson from him. Tucker asked him a similar question and he listed ideas I can get behind, especially as a former Democrat voter. They are mostly old-school liberal, populist ideas. As an independent, that's what I'm looking for and Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo, Mike Pence, they are not it.

Expand full comment
founding

I love what Ramaswamy is saying, but my concern is that he's speaking as if he were running for emperor. Yes, Affirmative Action, race quotas, and hell, even Title IX ought to be repealed/ended/outlawed – but as president, the EOs can be negated by the next guy. He needs to make sure that a new senate majority leader, and the SotH are committed to his agenda, and move forward, that way.

Were he to be elected to office, he might find his ability to do all that he intends to, significantly more constrained than he understands, now.

Expand full comment

Ramaswamy has only worked in business, so he thinks he can run the government like a CEO. He's wrong, on that I agree with you, and he would have some painful lessons. And, yes, his biggest problems would not be the Democrats but the McConnells and the McCarthys. On the other hand, I think he'd learn and he knows more what people are about than the others getting in, other than Trump and DeSantis.

Expand full comment
founding

Managing like a CEO is a good thing re: letting the people you've tabbed to run the respective cabinet-post agencies (see Reagan, HW, W - of course, you actually need to know how to hold them accountable, unlike W and "...doin' a heck of a job, Brownie..."), but bad if one thinks that AA, race quotas, Title IX, et al. can be slain by Executive Order – for that, you need help from your legislative "leaders."

That is something he may be able to do simply because he's not Trump. In fact, I'd wager that if he DOES manage to win election, he could simply work to implement Trump's agenda, and he could probably get Dems and Republicans to sign on for the simple reason he's not Trump. How sad is that?

I call it, Nobel Peace Prize Syndrome. The Nobel Peace Prize Committee awarded it to the Turd-in-the-Punch-Bowl simply because the Kenyan Light Bringer wasn't named Bush.

Expand full comment

"Nobel Peace Prize Syndrome." That's a good term.

Expand full comment
founding

"It shows a level of intelligence and restraint most Republicans can't exercise in culture war issues, but DeSantis did."

Focused on the issue, not the people championing it (Intro to Debate 101). Also, DeSantis knows the pulse of the vast majority of voters, and while overreach isn't his style anyway, he knows that the voters wouldn't tolerate it. A true surgical strike.

Expand full comment

The edit button isn't showing up, and there are so many typos in this. Sorry.

Expand full comment

With South Carolina being such a staunch conservative state, they sure do bring us some real duds. Besides Nikki we have Lindsay Graham. I don't have much confidence in Tim Scott either. There may be others?

Expand full comment
Feb 22, 2023Liked by Don Surber

My question from the other day was how do red states (SC, Utah, Ohio) get squishes and RINOs as their leaders. They do not represent their voters. Mr. L explained the process in his state. Overall, though, how does this happen? I am going to assign some of the blame to the education system and as for the rest I don't know.

Expand full comment

RNC and the Republican Party in general are infiltrated and subverted by communists. Remember what McCain's presidential campaign manager did to Sarah Palin? Total subversion and destruction of an excellent person by a highly placed "Republican." IMO, John McCain's entire presidential campaign against Obama was staged, not to defeat Obama but to destroy Sarah Palin.

I read somewhere, years ago, that when the 1917 Bolshevik uprising succeeded in overthrowing the Czar in Russia, Republicans and Democrats in the United States at that time decided that communism was the future of humanity on earth: mainly because communism panders to the lowest common denominator of human ambition, desire and behavior.

In 1917, lazy politicians in the United States rolled over for communism. They didn't want to do the heavy lifting necessary to raise people up to a better standard of hope and ambition. They still don't, do they? Lazy, pandering politicians, always lookin' for the easy way out.

Expand full comment

If both parties thought communism was the future, no wonder Woodrow Wilson was reelected in 1916.

Expand full comment

Don, if you can answer this question in a column it would be appreciated. I just keep seeing this phenomenon over and over again almost everywhere in numerous so-called democracies. It leaves me perplexed and PO'd.

Expand full comment

The education system deserves much of the blame but don't forget the disinformation and it's influence provided by the news media.

Expand full comment

Well, the news media was shaped by their education.

Expand full comment
founding

The GOPe learned its lesson after Reagan cleaned house after his election in 1980. He installed his own guy as head of the RNC which then went about laying a lot of the groundwork with the right candidates (recruitment, support) that would bear fruit in the early 1990s, despite HW's efforts to undo all that Reagan had accomplished.

Once HW restored normalcy to their world, I think they changed the rules that would allow a Republican president they didn't like to make those kinds of changes, hence preserving the status quo that the likes of Kristol, Romney, and groups like the Heritage Foundation, and American Enterprise Institute prefer – institutional also-rans.

Expand full comment
Feb 22, 2023Liked by Don Surber

She has a snowball's chance in hell of being nominated. Might tick a couple of boxes for VP but Tim Scott would do that better. I've come around to hoping Trump, if nominated, is pragmatic enough to tap DeSantis. This is a unique situation with a former POTUS running for what can only a single term, then DeSantis could be The Man in 2028.

Expand full comment

This scenario makes the most sense. Hope you are right. It would be the best for the country.

Expand full comment
founding
Feb 22, 2023Liked by Don Surber

Haley did make the SC DMV more consumer friendly

Expand full comment
founding
Feb 22, 2023Liked by Don Surber

I feel Nikki is a sister of Ronna R. Mcd.and is seeking power only.The veep she would jump at but with any luck our nominee will see past the ego and choose wisely.(maybe Don Surber).

Expand full comment

That's a good comparison!

Expand full comment
Feb 22, 2023Liked by Don Surber

Don you help me see things more clearly. You don't suffer fools gladly. You make me THINK. You are a genius. Thanks always!

Expand full comment
Feb 22, 2023Liked by Don Surber

Well, she's better looking than Hilary Clinton and more articulate than Kamala Harris, so she's got that going for her...

Expand full comment

It's a small thing, but she does have that. Although Don Lemon (I pronounce it like Tucker Carlson does) did indicate that she is past her prime as a woman!

Expand full comment
Feb 22, 2023Liked by Don Surber

Well, if she was as old as Dianne Feinstein or Nancy Pelosi, he might have a point.

Expand full comment

Your last guess is probably right. She's just playing the political version of an Instagram Influencer to gather up some money. Tulsi did the same thing.

Expand full comment
Expand full comment
Feb 22, 2023Liked by Don Surber

My sentiments exactly.

Expand full comment