Nikki Haley should “go for broke” and “gently smack that gum” out of Trump’s mouth

Yesterday I suggested that Nikki Haley should, to use the words of writer Michael Wood, give Trump the “full Liz Cheney.” Peggy Noonan of The Wall Street Journal seems to agree.

Here is a taste of her column “Nikki Haley Should Go for Broke“:

For useful advice I turned to my friend Landon Parvin, savant and veteran Washington speechwriter, who tore himself away from work to offer practical thoughts.

Go for broke, Landon said; there’s only one subject now and it’s Mr. Trump. Go at him, make it new. “Feel the freedom of your situation,” he says to Ms. Haley. “Self-respect is at issue. You’re not slinking off under pressure. There is something glorious about a last stand.”

“You alone now carry the banner. Speak up for all the Republicans who have been demeaned, diminished and threatened by Trump. He can no longer hurt you. Pick up the sword. You don’t have to give Shakespeare’s band-of-brothers speech but live it!”

Lean into being a woman. “The woman card is untapped by Republican women because they don’t like identity politics.” But the suburbs will appreciate it, and Mr. Trump is going after you as a woman, insulting how you present yourself, calling you “birdbrain.” “You were once in the Little Miss Bamberg, S.C., pageant and sang ‘This Land Is Your Land.’ That’s a beautiful thing for the daughter of immigrants. Trump desecrates such images, this man who owned the Miss USA pageant and grabbed women by certain parts. This is bigger than you. Speak up for Republican women.”

It’s OK to note you beat Joe Biden in the polls while with Mr. Trump it’s a toss-up, fine to point out that Mr. Trump has lost a step, but be careful. “Do it with humor or you’ll look like you want to stand on his ventilator tube.”

But the issue is Mr. Trump’s nature. Start, Landon says, with something like this: “Remember when Trump said he could shoot somebody in the middle of Fifth Avenue and people would still vote for him? Well, if he would try to shoot somebody in the middle of the street here in South Carolina, we would return fire. And that is what I intend to do today.”

“Don’t attack with anger, just quote the terrible, terrible things he says about specific people and larger groups. It is not right what he says, and on some level most Trump supporters know it. Make fun of his self-importance and self-regard. Take on the Great Pumpkin far away in Mar-a-Lago. Show that he’s out of control, that he has no rails, no boundaries. Quote the past few days’ overnight rants on social media. Let the audience draw the conclusion about whether this man should be returned to the presidency.” Quote his former chiefs of staff and cabinet secretaries who say he has no business in the Oval Office. “Let that settle in.”

More: “Don’t be strident, don’t strain your voice, don’t try too hard. When I was writing for Ronald Reagan, I would give him a sure-fire, tough applause line, and he would often deliver it gently, seeking no applause. And yet it landed, and he looked the stronger, the bigger and the more genial for it. Don’t yell at Trump, be sad for him.”

“Let me talk about stereotypes, as unfair as they are, because some voters think in them. You are the Asian girl in the front of the class with her hand up. You’re smart, you did the work. Trump is the blond jock in the back, cracking jokes and popping gum. Gently smack that gum out of his mouth. Have some fun going after him, not in a Chris Christie perturbed way but as someone who seems to enjoy the give and take of battle.”

Read the entire piece here.