LOS ANGELES.–Hoping that former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, 51, upends 77-year-old former President Donald Trump, the fake news has gone all out promoting the former U.N. Ambassador to win the Jan. 23 New Hampshire primary. But not only does Haley have no chance of winning tomorrow, 49-year-old New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu is about to find out how little clout he has in his own state. Haley exposed her weakness recently in a series of gaffes on the campaign trail, telling voters that slavery was not the cause of the Civil war, saying racism has never been part of America, and, if you can believe it, 65 is too young for retirement. With gaffes like those New Hampshire voters now have second thoughts about Haley, realizing she’s not fit for the GOP nomination, certainly not for the White House. Haley can’t deviate from rehearsed talking points without disaster.
Haley has been saying recently that Trump shows signs of aging, pointing to a speech in which he apparently confused Haley with 83-year-old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Whether Trump confused Haley with Pelosi is anyone’s guess. Using Haley’s name instead of Pelosi is not evidence of dementia, only repeating the same wrong name while telling a story. Dementia looks very different where someone groped for words, has problems with word retrieval, showing slowness in putting thoughts into words. That’s certainly not Trump’s problem, though occasionally messing things up. President Joe Biden’s cognitive deficits are very different, often confusing his person, place and time, while explaining himself. Haley raising the aging issue certainly eliminated her from any VP consideration, something Trump admitted as much.
Haley’s campaign looked better on the debate stage where she was repeating memorized talking points. But as soon as Nikki deviates from the script, voters see her poor common sense and judgment. No one with any judgment says the Civil War was not about slavery before any other plausible cause. When it comes to appealing to the Black community, how can any candidate, Democrat, Republican or independent, say American has never been a racist countr?. No matter how you stretch it, it defies all common sense again to deny racism in America. When it comes to senior citizens and retirement concerns, what candidate tells seniors that retirement will have to be delayed or postponed in the future? Fake news doesn’t report on any of Haley’s gaffes only on good things like fundraising $500K, actually a small amount, after Florida Gov. Ron De.Santis called it quits Jan. 21.
DeSantis threw Haley under the bus endorsing Trump within 24 hours after ending his campaign. Haley got so nasty with DeSantis on the debate stage, it was like two caged animals going after each other. Haley was the last person DeSantis would want to see win the GOP nomination. Walking a tightrope on the campaign trail, DeSantis treaded carefully not to burn his bridges with Trump. Fake news did everything possible to push DeSantis into denouncing Trump but it didn’t really happen. DeSantis always knew that Trump would prevail in the GOP primaries because he has the biggest following, but, more importantly, because he’s the king of campaigning, as consummate candidate, entertaining audiences like no candidate in American history. Democrats strategist James Carville, 79, said he thought former President Bill Clinton was the best campaigner he’s seen.
University of New Hampshire polls show that 62% of DeSantis supporters have gone to Trump, only 30% to Haley. But like most polls, they don’t tell the whole story of voters faced with a real choice on Election Day. Listening to Haley commit more campaign gaffes gives New Hampshire voters reason to pause on voting for Haley. Polls show Trump with a 17% lead on Haley, 54%-37% as of today. When voters really think about their votes, Haley could lose even more ground, losing by over 20%. Fake news predictions that Haley closed the gap to 10% are not confirmed in any real polling data. All things point to Trump with a big margin of victory on Election Day. Haley’s recent gaffes reminded voters that she’s not ready for the GOP nomination but also not ready for the White House. Haley keeps saying she beats Biden in a head-to-head match-up.
Haley’s getting that sinking feeling before the New Hampshire primary, knowing that only Democrats and the fake news think that she’s narrowed the gap with Trump. Sununu made things only worse for Haley and himself, showing the feeble reason for supporting her candidacy. Sununu thought he’d get some free publicity going on liberal TV shows urging New Hampshire voters to go for Haley. All Sununu did was indict his own credibility, showing he’s got little common sense as well. If Haley loses New Hampshire by a wide margin, it’s doubtful she’ll go all the way through the Feb. 24 South Carolina primary. Haley is expected to lose South Carolina, her own home state, by even a bigger margin than New Hampshire. Why Haley would want to keep her campaign going if she loses New Hampshire by a big margin is anyone’s guess. She’ll probably throw in the towel.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
