After Super Tuesday, Haley Can Still Save the Republican Party from Trump

Photo by Gage Skidmore on Wikimedia Commons

Nikki Haley hasn’t endorsed Trump after failing to win any state in the Republican primaries.

She now challenges him “to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him.” Haley is about to allow herself to become another political doormat for Trump. She is under the illusion that Trump would bring people into his cause and not turn them away.

However, Haley, running as a Conservative Republican Independent, could reshape the Republican Party’s landscape more than any other politician. Her message during the primaries has resonated with Republicans angry with Trump. They want a party and candidate representing traditional Republican values, not allegiance to a single leader.

It would have been a mistake for Haley to run as an independent with a Democrat as a V.P. She needs to offer herself as a clear alternative to the Democrats, not as a liberal Republican. Republicans will cast a vote for her as a protest vote against the Trump party, but not as a moderate or liberal candidate.

Haley will not win any electoral votes. She cannot raise significant money for a national campaign to compete in the upcoming $10 billion-dollar 2020 rematch.