A question has been floating around the United States for decades, and even more so after Hillary Clinton's defeat in the 2016 elections. Will a woman ever win the White House?
“Trump's macho style is scaring voters of both parties and turning them away from a female candidate,” Susan B. Glasser wrote in The New Yorker last February.
Glasser, a lucid analyst of American politics, saw an almost impossible prospect of a Democratic option if President Joe Biden fails – Vice President Kamala Harris does not offer confidence and the desired Michelle Obama is not in the job – while observing more possibilities among the Republican ranks.
He recalled that Nikki Haley, 51, former governor of South Carolina and former ambassador to the UN in the Trump administration, had just launched her campaign for the November 2024 presidential elections.
But the polls did not give him any future. The Wall Street Journal in its editorial, which is very macho and ultra-conservative, stated that “there is no justification for his candidacy.” The Murdoch group opted for another rooster like Ron DeSantis and today is in complete confusion over the Florida governor's role.
Nine months have passed since The New Yorker article. After three debates between Republican contenders, to which the former president did not attend for fear of falling from the pedestal, Haley faces the fourth this coming week from a different position.
He is at his best, in rampant progression, with his popularity on the rise with just over a month left before the start of the Iowa caucus primaries and with the support of large Republican donors, such as the network of the Koch millionaires , who see it as the only option to stand up to Trump, despite continuing to lead with a large advantage according to the polls. To encourage themselves, they clarify that prospecting is one thing, and the verdict of reality is another. From the Trump campaign, which focused on annulling the “meapiles” DeSantis, they now dedicate the “bullshit” insult to the former ambassador.
“Biden can be stopped and Trump can be let go,” she proclaims at the rallies, where they are beginning to fill up, forcing them to look for venues with greater capacity.
Haley is regrouping the “never Trump” Republicans, the conservatives who are fed up with the former president – although they remain silent for fear of insults and that his hordes will threaten them with death – and the independents, who choose one side or the other. another depending on how the wind blows.
With less than a year to go before the elections, the Republican field of candidates has shrunk dramatically. Except for the fearful absentee, next Wednesday Haley, DeSantis, the unclassifiable Vivek Ramaswamy, whose star as a young Trump replicant has faded, will be on stage, and perhaps Chris Christie, the ex-Trumpist who most attacks Trumpism, will meet the requirements.
And that is what he criticizes Haley for, her inability to attack Trump. “You either go against him or you don't go,” Christie said.
“Nikki Haley's rising campaign is using tactical reluctance to arrive at the right moment and become the last challenger to face Donald Trump,” replied the prestigious conservative columnist George F. Will, highly critical of the former president, in The Washington Post.
Depending on which polls you look at, DeSantis or Haley come in second place. No one doubts, however, that she is in what is called momentum. The decantation of the Kochs has been a serious blow for the governor and a spectacular boost for Haley.
They accused his campaign of being poor and unstructured. He has moved forward and with the injection of money he has obtained, he will have much more capacity to operate in the media, on the networks and, above all, on the ground, door-to-door.
Even Jamie Dimon, powerful CEO of the JP Morgan bank, launched an SOS aimed at Democratic donors: “Help Nikki Haley.”
“We must leave chaos and drama behind,” she insists on her ascension. After seeing herself there, she reiterates that “we have another guy to catch up with,” alluding to the fact that Trump is still on top.
