Nikki Haley walks the line
The former South Carolina governor made a career of taking both sides. In an overly partisan world, she’s betting that’s exactly what voters want.
In a GOP primary field of mostly former President Donald Trump mimics vs. a few Trump critics, former South Carolina Governor and Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley has carved a unique niche for herself.
The lone woman in the race, she talks tough on immigration, but also shares poignant stories from her background as the child of immigrants. She casts herself as a fighter — just ask fellow candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, whom she once again pummeled at Wednesday night’s primary debate — but also a unifier who can work through the stark political divisiveness plaguing the country. While her opponents try to either become Trump or else tear him down, she maintains a precarious balancing act, trying to bridge the pre-Trump GOP with the post-Trump party of today.
“She neither hugs him nor hates him,” writes Michael Kruse in this week’s Friday Read.
Accusations of taking both sides have followed Haley throughout her career. But what if that’s exactly what’s giving her a boost in the polls?“ The conventional wisdom is that this is a time for choosing, for all Republicans, and for her, too,” Kruse writes. “Conservatism or populism (in the framing of former Vice President Mike Pence)? Backward or forward? Trump or not Trump? The gambit of the Haley candidacy is that it doesn’t have to be so. Voters don’t have to choose. They can choose her.”
“Honestly, every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say.”
Can you guess who said this about Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy this week? Scroll to the bottom for the answer.**
The Government Could Shut Down. But D.C. Already Has … You’d think a government shutdown would have a major impact on a city built around the business of government. But since 2020, much of that business has taken place online, as work-from-home became the norm. Lunch spots, parking garages, shopping centers downtown — they’re already struggling to draw pre-pandemic crowds. Which raises the question: How acutely would a DC that works over Zoom really feel a government shutdown? “For all practical purposes for D.C., the federal government has been shut down since March 9, 2020,” says Yesim Sayin, executive director of the D.C. Policy Center. Michael Schaffer explores the looming post-pandemic shutdown in this week’s Capital City column.
Didn’t catch the second GOP primary debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Wednesday? Well, neither did the frontrunner. Here are some talking points to get you through all your friends’ hot takes this weekend (from associate editor Dylon Jones):
— If you’re part of the 72 percent of Republican voters who consider Donald Trump to be the strongest candidate to take on President Joe Biden in 2024, you might praise him for skipping the debate and heading to Michigan, where there’s an autoworker strike, to drag Biden for encouraging the transition to electric vehicles. Others will note that Trump’s trip came a day after Biden went to Michigan himself — becoming the first U.S. president to ever join a picket line, standing with UAW workers in Belleville. Either way, you can point out that the general election battle for blue-collar voters is already well underway this primary season.
— If you’re among a liberal or Never-Trump crowd, expect some giddiness about all the bashing of 45. It was no surprise for former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to go in on Trump (if someone mentions “Donald Duck,” just roll your eyes and smile knowingly), but this time around, Vice President Mike Pence, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis got in on the action too, criticizing Trump for skipping the debate and, in DeSantis’ case, for contributing to inflation during his presidency. That’s right: Those of you out there who are Biden fans can now say you agree with Ron DeSantis about something.
— Steel yourselves for an onslaught of “hot for teacher” jokes. You can blame Christie for bringing it up: He knocked President Biden for “sleeping with a member of the teacher’s union.” You can also blame Pence for achieving entirely new heights of awkward when he said minutes later that, though his wife isn’t in the union, “I have been sleeping with a teacher for 38 years.” Yes, of course, there’s already a T-shirt.
— The naked disdain between Haley and Ramaswamy reminded at least one Democratic Twitter user of another political grudge match between a woman with years of experience in federal office and a male, millennial up-and-comer: Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar vs. now-Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg in the 2020 Democratic primary. It’s not the first time Ramaswamy has been compared to Buttigieg — videos of each of them asking questions of politicians as baby-faced Harvard undergrads recently circulated. But as noted by my colleague Adam Wren, who has spent an “unnatural amount of time with each of them” (his words), the similarities are superficial at best. Read his study in contrast between the two for more — and to see which Harvard alum really is a good Ramaswamy comparison.
How to Shut Down a Government … As a U.S. Rep for South Carolina from 2011 to 2017, Mick Mulvaney joined a group of hardline conservatives who’re using the threat of a government shutdown to push their agenda. In 2013, as part of an unsuccessful attempt to block President Barack Obama’s signature health care bill, they succeeded in shutting down the government for 16 days. Then, in 2018, as President Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, Mulvaney found himself not pushing for a shutdown, but executing one. So POLITICO’s Ian Ward called him up to ask just how exactly the imminent shutdown on Sunday could play out. “[It] was a unique experience,” Mulvaney told him. “I wondered how many people would laugh, cry, wail, scream, do whatever when they found out that I was the one to shut the government down.”
The Cost of ‘Free’ Land … At the turn of the 20th century, Rebecca Clarren’s ancestors fled antisemitic violence in Russia for the United States. They found hope at their new home, a patch of land on the South Dakota prairie provided by the federal government, and Clarren grew up hearing stories of their tenacity and grit. But after she began reporting on the region as an adult, she came to confront an insurmountable fact: The home that delivered her family from oppression was built on the oppression of others, taken from the Lakota. In this excerpt from her new book, The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota and an American Inheritance, she explores that complicated history — and what to do about it in the present.
**Who Dissed answer: That would be Nikki Haley, who once again clashed with Ramaswamy at the second GOP primary debate in Simi Valley, California on Wednesday night. This particular blow-up focused on TikTok, where Ramaswamy recently appeared in a post with boxer Jake Paul. “This is infuriating because TikTok is one of the most dangerous social media apps we could have,” Haley said.
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