After the death of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, one voice in the Republican wilderness is demonstrating moral clarity; she is condemning both Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump (for coddling said strongman). And her name is Nikki Haley.
Responding to Navalny’s death, Haley tweeted: “Putin did this. The same Putin who Donald Trump praises and defends. The same Trump who said: ‘In all fairness to Putin, you’re saying he killed people. I haven’t seen that.’”
She followed that statement with another message: “Putin murdered his political opponent and Trump hasn’t said a word after he said he would encourage Putin to invade our allies”—a reference to Trump’s recent comments inviting Russia to attack NATO allies who haven’t paid up.
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To be sure, Haley was merely scratching the surface regarding Trump’s affinity for Putin and Russia (for example, she left out his contention that “our country does plenty of killing also”). But the point remains: Nikki deserves credit for calling it like it is.
This newfound outspokenness has become something of a trend. Since losing New Hampshire, Haley has taken off the gloves and hit Trump hard.
In response, Trump has ratcheted up his attacks on the woman he refers to as “Birdbrain.” He has both insulted her birth name and implied that her husband (who is serving our nation in Africa) was deployed in order to get away from her.
Regarding Trump’s comments about her husband, Haley said: “When Donald Trump attacks one veteran, he’s attacking all of them. If he can’t understand the sacrifice our soldiers and veterans give for this country, then he doesn’t deserve to be commander in chief.”
Saying Trump isn’t fit to be commander in chief is a serious, if obvious, charge for a Republican primary challenger to level. That—coupled with her tweets about Trump and Putin—make me wonder how she can ever return to the Republican fold, such as it is.
In “Never Trump” circles, there has been much debate about why Haley has continued running what is clearly a quixotic campaign for the Republican nomination.
Although the general consensus is that her presence has been a net-positive, because our hearts have been broken so many times, most Never Trump conservatives harbor a sense of impending doom: The safe assumption is that Haley will eventually undermine all her good works by endorsing Trump.
Haley, like all of Trump’s primary opponents, has pledged to support the Republican nominee.
On the other hand, Trump’s declaration that Haley supporters are “permanently barred from the MAGA camp. We don’t want them, and will not accept them,” might create a permission structure for Haley to go rogue.
After launching a string of attacks, including the most recent one about Trump and Putin, Haley must surely realize that she has crossed the metaphorical Rubicon. She will almost certainly be blackballed from a Trump administration, with no hope for a future in conservative politics or the Republican Party, going forward.
Make no mistake, attacking Trump (and, for that matter, Putin) is a dangerous move in today’s Republican Party. And while the penalty for attacking Trump in the U.S.A. is much less severe than the penalty for attacking Putin in Russia, Haley’s political life is certainly in jeopardy.
Not everyone has accepted the fact that this isn’t Ronald Reagan’s Republican Party anymore. In what was a well-meaning tweet, former Vice President Mike Pence said, “There is no room in the Republican Party for apologists for Putin.” This was, shall we say, wishful thinking.
Having run a flailing presidential campaign, Pence is obviously in no position to dictate what is or is not acceptable in the GOP. Moreover, whether we are talking about Donald Trump or Tucker Carlson (who is arguably the most influential right-wing entertainment voice today), people who could be reasonably called Putin apologists are wildly popular with GOP voters. They are more popular than Pence and Haley, combined. It ain’t even close.
The only Republicans willing to condemn Putin (and publicly support Ukraine’s effort to fend off Russia’s invasion) these days are the ones who have no future in the party.
Have politicians who hold traditional Reaganite views about foreign policy been purged from the party? Or is it only the politicians with no future in the party who feel liberated enough to defend Ukraine and criticize Trump for fawning all over Putin? I’m not sure this “chicken or the egg” question even matters.
What does matter, though, is that Haley is finally standing up and doing the right thing. To be sure, it won’t help her win the Republican nomination, and it won’t move a single MAGA voter away from Trump. But by showing moral clarity and refusing to back down, Haley is carrying the torch for millions of Americans.
Here’s hoping she doesn’t extinguish that hope by endorsing the bum.
