Call me crazy. I believe Nikki Haley is going to win.
I sometimes make outlandish predictions. In 2010 I told my students at West Virginia University that Donald Trump would be President if he ever decided to run, on the grounds that he had the most media exposure, and Americans truly wanted an alternative candidate rather than another party hack. When it actually became time in 2016, I predicted he would win while major news organizations were refusing to cover his candidacy, believing it was a publicity stunt. I also predicted that Bernie Sanders would mount a challenge to Hillary Clinton.
I also predicted that President Trump would be impeached back in 2017. And as Casey Stengel used to say, you can look it up!
This year, it seems to me, the hard part is winning the Republican nomination. The easier task is defeating President Biden in the November Election. Biden's weaknesses are duly noted. He is a doddering geriatric case who is seeking to claim more power for the Executive Branch on behalf of his power-mad political party, just as Donald Trump is seeking to do for his party. Biden just has less bombast, but the goal is the same: absolute power, with his rival hopefully thrown in jail.
The party process is so corrupt that it is impossible for a contender to mount a serious challenge within the Democratic ranks or else someone--anyone--would. However, the Democratic Party has assumed so much power that there will be no opportunity for a challenger to win. They are stuck with a deteriorating geriatric case as their candidate and nothing can be done about it.
For that matter, President Trump suffers from the same problems as President Biden: old age and being the symbol of a Party eager to dominate American politics in perpetuity in defiance of the Constitution. Both parties seek to rule America by Executive Order. Whenever there is a change of Political Party, there is a stack of Executive Orders waiting to be signed. Keystone Pipeline? If it's a Republican, gone within 24 hours of assuming office; if it's a Democrat, restored within 24 hours. Build a wall? Republican President, yes, Democrat, no. Legal support for Black lives matter? Democrat yes, Republican no.
These issues should be carefully legislated by our Congress but instead they are put in place by the Almighty Political Party of the President, and Americans are okay with that. Our choices are doddering would-be dictators Trump and Biden. Well, perhaps Americans are looking for alternatives.
Both Trump and Biden will seek to end Democracy. Haley may--MAY--offer an alternative to confrontational and dominant pure party rule. For that reason I believe sensible Americans will vote for her.
Currently she is gaining momentum in New Hampshire. Once Trump establishes himself as a has-been loser, I don't see him regaining momentum and restoring the Trump Presidency as the alternative to a Biden dictatorship. Do you?
One line sticks with me against President Trump. "If you have to lie to win, you don't deserve to win."
