As conservatives gather for their annual conference known as CPAC, Nikki Haley will not be among the possible 2024 GOP contenders in attendance, with speculation that her rivalry with Donald Trump being a contributing factor.
According to one report, Haley is “isolated” after she attacked President Trump for the January 6 Capitol riot.
This comes in the aftermath last week of the former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. asking for a meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Her request was turned down.
It wasn’t the case in years gone by that we required our political leaders to be in lock-step agreement with each other. I like Nikki Haley. I don’t agree with everything she’s said or done, but that’s true of everyone.
Her comments about Trump were not that inflammatory. She basically said that he went too far in his protestations about the election. An overwhelming majority of Americans believe that.
But disagreeing with Trump, particularly on the election is a quick way to be exiled in the Republican Party right now. I have criticized Rep. Liz Cheney (R-MT-AL) for that, but her comments and actions go far beyond what Haley has done or said.
We used to call this “staking a claim” or “establishing an identity” when politicians distanced themselves from some actions or statements by previous administrations. Now it’s heresy.
This is a bad thing. Republicans rightly criticized Democrats for their “cult of personality” around President Barack Obama (D-USA), and Democrats are now right to make the came criticisms of Trump voters.
We have to be about what is right and what is wrong and not about who is saying it.
The message is much more important than the messenger. Or it should be. I’m not convinced it really has been true since mid 2008.
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