Why is Nikki Haley hanging around in the GOP presidential race? | GARY COSBY JR.

What is Nikki Haley up to? It’s pretty obvious that Republicans have so thoroughly saturated themselves in Trump Kool-Aid, MAGA hats, and shiny gold sneakers that she has no shot. So why is she still in the presidential race?

I think there are two possibilities. First the former president is already past the average life expectancy for American men. That age is 73. Trump is 77. Biden is, as we are all aware, 81. In fact, this is rapidly becoming a race between two grumpy old men who can’t seem to get their words to come out right. Not encouraging.

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Haley could, therefore, be hanging around literally waiting for Trump to die. That sounds pretty horrible, but the factors are all in place for health problems. He is under tremendous stress from all the legal woes he has brought on himself, he is keeping up a grueling schedule between court appearances and campaign travel, and he is overweight. Those factors are detrimental to anyone’s health, particularly someone of his age.

Haley could also be hanging out hoping for convictions in the numerous criminal trials Trump is facing. He already has been slammed hard in civil cases. He has been ordered to pay $355 million to New York for exaggerating his wealth in order to commit financial fraud with government and lending institutions. The number he actually owes is well north of $400 million and growing by about $85,000 per day until he pays.

Trump has also been ordered to pay E. Jean Carroll $5 million for sexual assault and defamation in 2023. Since Trump continued to defame Carroll, a second trial ended in him being ordered to pay her an additional $83 million. By the way, those two cases alone would be enough to sink any candidate in any political party at any time in U.S. history. How do Republican voters justify continuing to support this man who has committed fraud, sexual assault, and defamation of character? It’s a mystery, but the mystery only deepens.

He is next going to trial for allegedly paying hush money to a porn star and another woman who posed nude for a noted adult magazine after he had affairs with them. This case involves 34 felony charges against Trump and is generally considered the weakest of the four felony cases he faces.

I’m not sure how Republicans who pride themselves on being the family values party are able to justify supporting Trump in light of this case alone. I mean, can you imagine the hue and cry if these charges were involving a Democrat? The Republican Party would be tearing itself apart with ecstasy and cries of “Lock him up!” But not when it’s Trump. Again, it’s an absolute mystery how a person like Trump has managed to become the darling of the conservative party.

The more serious cases in legal terms occur after this one and will be in process, at a minimum, during the presidential campaign. So Haley is hanging around, even though she is currently losing, because she has positioned herself to take over if Trump falters, for one reason or another.

The question is, if this is in fact her strategy, how Republican voters might react if Trump does go down? Will they rush to her with open arms, grateful for her tenacity, or will they react as if she is a buzzard who was merely waiting to swoop in to pick over the bones of a fallen foe?

Hard to say, since this group of Republican voters seems likely to vote from Trump even if he is dead and certainly if he is convicted and imprisoned. It would be easier to understand this if Trump had been a great president in his first term, but he wasn’t. Presidential scholars rate him as the third worst president in U.S. history. A more recent study, though it appears heavily biased, says he is the worst president ever. The bias shows because they rank Biden at about 19th. It would take quite a stretch to come to that conclusion.

Frankly, Biden has been, at best, mediocre. That is pretty much what America needed after the political indigestion the nation suffered with Trump; however, that does not mean he has been good. Haley would easily defeat Biden and I do mean easily. She has a good presence on stage. She looks young, especially next to Biden who appears to be mummified. She clearly has the political savvy to take down Biden.

Why Republican voters have not rushed to her is strange indeed. Given Trump’s behavior both in office and since, she feels like a breath of fresh air. I will be more than happy to vote for her in the primary and certainly in the general election.

Haley is a better choice to me than Trump who is such a basket case that he stands only the smallest chance of beating a very vulnerable Biden. And she is most definitely a better choice than Biden, who looks and sounds like it is time for a rocking chair on the front porch of any house except for the White House.

Gary Cosby Jr. can be reached at gary.cosby@tuscaloosanews.com

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Why is Nikki Haley still in the presidential race? | GARY COSBY JR.