National Review
Nikki Haley was able to stay in the campaign through Super Tuesday. But her one-on-one contest against Donald Trump was a mismatch. She won Vermont and Washington, D.C., and showed respectably in a handful of other states. But Trump’s Super Tuesday dominance, another display of his status as a quasi-incumbent, ended any pretense that she had a path to the nomination.
There was probably no beating Donald Trump this year, certainly not after the indictments. Haley deserves credit for talking about fiscal discipline and supporting aid for Ukraine, issues now unpopular among the Republican base, and for becoming more pointed in her criticisms of Trump as the race progressed. But sounding too much like a Republican circa 2004 limited her appeal beyond the 30 percent or so of Republicans who are anti-Trump.
It remains to be seen whether she will endorse Trump—and, if so, how many of those voters will follow her suggestion.
Trump should still want her endorsement and should be trying to woo her, and those voters, instead of engaging in his typically graceless behavior.
As we now approach the general election nobody wanted, we still believe Republicans would have been better served, in November and beyond, to have chosen someone other than Trump as their standard-bearer.
