A question has been floating around the United States for decades, and even more so after Hillary Clinton's defeat in the 2016 election. Will a woman ever win the White House?
"Trump's masculine style is scaring voters in both parties and turning them away from a female candidate," Susan B. Glasser wrote in The New Yorker in February.
Glasser, a lucid analyst of US politics, saw an almost impossible prospect of a Democratic option in the event that President Joe Biden fails – Vice President Kamala Harris does not offer confidence and the desired Michelle Obama is not up for the job – while that he saw more possibilities among the Republican ranks.
He recalled that Nikki Haley, 51, ex-governor of South Carolina and ex-ambassador to the UN in the Trump administration, had just launched her campaign for the presidential elections of November 2024.
But the polls did not give him any future. The Wall Street Journal in its editorial, which is very male and ultra-conservative, stated that "there is no justification for his candidacy". The Murdoch group bet on another swindler like Ron DeSantis and today is in full disarray over the Florida governor's ticket.
Nine months have passed since the article in The New Yorker. After three debates of Republican contenders, 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's on a roll, with his popularity on the rise with just over a month to go before the Iowa caucuses and the support of major Republican donors, including the network of Koch millionaires, who see her as the only option to stand up to Trump, although he remains in the lead with a large lead, according to polls. To encourage themselves, they note that one thing is prospecting, and another, the verdict of reality. Since the Trump campaign, which focused on canceling the "altar-robber" DeSantis, they are now dedicating the insult of "fool" to the former ambassador.
"You can stop Biden and let Trump go," she proclaims at the meetings, which are starting to get full, forcing her to look for venues with more capacity.
Haley is regrouping the "never again Trump" Republicans, the conservatives who are fed up with the former president - although they are silent for fear of insults and that his hordes will threaten them with death -, and the independents, who opt for a side or the other 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 dreaded absentee, next Wednesday Haley, DeSantis, the unclassifiable Vivek Ramaswamy – his star as a young Trump replicant has melted – and maybe Chris Christie, the ex-Trumpist who more punishes Trumpism.
And this is what reprimands Haley: her inability to attack Trump. "You either run against him or you don't run," said Christie.
"Nikki Haley's ascendant campaign is using tactical reluctance to arrive at the right moment and become the last candidate standing before Donald Trump," the prestigious conservative columnist George F. Will replied to The Washington Post, highly critical with the former president.
Depending on which polls you look at, either DeSantis or Haley come in second. No one doubts, however, that she is in what is called momentum. The Kochs' denunciation has been a blow to the governor and a dramatic boost from Haley.
They accused his campaign of being poor and disorganized. It has moved forward and with the injection of money it has obtained it will have much more capacity to operate in the media, in the networks and, above all, on the ground, door to door.
Even Jamie Dimon, the powerful executive director of the bank JP Morgan, launched an SOS aimed at Democratic donors: "Help Nikki Haley."
"We have to leave chaos and drama behind", she insists on her ascension. After seeing each other, he reiterates that "we have another guy to reach", alluding to the fact that Trump is still at the top.
