Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump were running neck and neck in the polls. In a few polls, DeSantis was leading. Then DeSantis started his campaign for president and it’s been downhill ever since. Today, the Florida governor dropped out of […]
Nikki Haley
What Nikki Haley gets right and what she gets wrong about slavery and race in America
My message to Nikki Haley’s staff: Please hire a historian. First there was this: Just to be clear, the Civil War was about slavery. We addressed this here. Then there was this: And then there was last night’s CNN town […]
South Carolina senator Tim Scott will endorse Trump
In 2012, South Carolina governor Nikki Haley needed to appoint a U.S. senator after Jim DeMint retired from the senate to become president of the Heritage Foundation. Haley chose a second term U.S. congressman named Tim Scott to finish the […]
Trump wins Iowa with support of evangelicals
As expected, it was a big night for Donald Trump. He won just over half of the 110,000 votes cast in Iowa. Due to the weather, the turnout was very low. Ron DeSantis finished second (21.2%) and Nikki Haley was […]
Doug Wilson: The Civil War was fought over “federalism” and “decentralized power”
Over the Christmas holiday, GOP presidential candidate and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley got in hot water for this: Over at The Guardian, Steve Phillips asks why we are still debating the cause of the Civil War. A taste: […]
A very busy Martin Luther King Jr. Day
I can’t remember such a busy–at least in terms of news–January 15th. I’m on a research trip in a southern city that is treating a few inches of snow as if it was some kind of natural disaster, so it […]
Will Nikki Haley pull off a Gary Hart-style upset in New Hampshire?
The New Hampshire primary–the first of the primary season–is scheduled for January 23, 2004. Sometimes strange things happen in the New Hampshire primary. Remember when: Henry Cabot Lodge beat Barry Goldwater in 1964? Edmund Muskie beat George McGovern in 1972? […]
And then there were three (at least in terms of GOP debate qualifiers)
Three GOP presidential hopefuls have qualified for the final debate before the Iowa caucuses. They are Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, and Ron DeSantis. Haley and DeSantis will participate in the January 10 debate at Drake University, five days before the […]
Will any GOP presidential candidate take advantage of the recent Colorado Supreme Court decision?
The Colorado Supreme Court says that Donald Trump is an insurrectionist and is thus disqualified from holding the presidency in 2024. This story is not over. Trump will appeal. Some commentators are saying the Supreme Court may have to decide […]
Could a Nikki Haley/Chris Christie tag-team derail Trump?
Whatever you think about former New Jersey governor Christie, he deserves heaps of credit for standing up to the Trump in the way he has done this year. I thought his performance at the last GOP debate (University of Alabama) […]
Robert Kagan: “Will the people who selfishly refuse to put their own ambitions at risk finally act to save our democracy?”
Last week we brought your attention to Robert Kagan’s Washington Post piece on the potential of a Trump dictatorship should he be elected in 2024. Kagan was back at the post yesterday with a piece titled, “The Trump dictatorship: How […]
And then there were four…
Believe it or not, there is another GOP presidential primary debate on Wednesday night. This one is at the University of Alabama. Are people still watching these things? (I mean people other than political junkies like me?) The field is […]
Koch political network endorses Nikki Haley
Americans for Prosperity Action, a libertarian conservative super PAC affiliated with billionaire Charles Koch and his late brother David Koch, is endorsing Nikki Haley in the GOP presidential primary race. Here is a taste of the press release: At a […]
Nikki Haley’s 3-2-1 GOP primary strategy
Nikki Haley is surging in New Hampshire with a little more than two months to go before the January 23, 2024 primary. Can she win the GOP nomination? It’s a long shot. But according to journalist Ron Brownstein she has […]
Nikki Haley more than quadruples her support in New Hampshire
An Emerson College poll has the former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador running a clear second to Trump in the Granite State’s GOP primary race. She jumped from 4% in September to 18% in November. Donald Trump: 49% (He […]
The GOP debate stage is narrowing
Still no Trump, but next week’s debate in Miami will include Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie, and Tim Scott. Scott just made it. Here‘s Allison Novelo at CBS News: Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina has secured his spot […]
“And Pharaoh hardened his heart”: Will Donald Trump’s abortion claims on “Meet the Press” open a new lane for Ron DeSantis?
During the August 2023 GOP presidential debate, Nikki Haley said that Americans “need to stop demonizing” the issue of abortion. Watch: Most conservative evangelicals I know side with Pence in this debate. Haley repeated this argument over the weekend at […]
Cornel West is at 2% in a new Wall Street Journal poll
According to a new poll released today by The Wall Street Journal, Joe Biden (46%) and Donald Trump (46%) are running neck and neck in a potential 2024 presidential matchup. But when support for Green Party candidate Cornel West is […]
Nikki Haley is “no moderate on abortion.” Nikki Haley is “no pro-life champion.”
When I heard former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley talk about abortion at the first GOP presidential debate earlier this month I wrote: Nikki Haley, the only woman on the stage, was the most reasonable and […]
Did New York Times columnist David Brooks just endorse Nikki Haley for the GOP presidential nomination?
It sure looks like it. Here is a taste of his column today: I have a bunch of friends and acquaintances who are Never Trump, maybe-Trump or kind-of-Trump Republicans. They’ve been looking around for the candidate they can support and […]