Rebuilding Rob

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Wither, Nikki Haley?

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I promise, this is the last time…

I honestly had no intention of writing about Nikki Haley again, especially after she suspended her presidential campaign Wednesday; following a super Tuesday blowout to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. but since good things and bad things seem to come in threes, and I already torched her rhetoric here, and questioned the presidential campaign here, I decided let’s make this a trilogy. Besides, Rob loves a good trainwreck!

Nothing ventured, and nothing gained.

I know that hindsight is 2020, but again I’m still left to ask the question, why did Nikki Haley even bother to run for president? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t feel that any candidate in any election, even a primary, should run unopposed . But the truth is a Donald Trump has been running his presidential campaign, as if he is an incumbent candidate. Because, as far as his followers are concerned, he is an incumbent candidate. Hell, he’s still perpetuating the myth that he didn’t lose the 2020 election.

The biggest problem with Haley’s presidential campaign, as I talked about here, previously, is that she did not present herself as an actual alternative to Donald Trump. Maybe she never was a viable alternative to Trump. Maybe therein the rub.

In hindsight, she should have come up more forceful in support of Ukraine. According to this NBC news article, Haley also seems deeply conflicted between her own personalities on abortion, and how she wanted the topic to be addressed on a national level. Again, maybe taking stronger stances on either of these issues too much to ask of her. I did find it interesting that, rather than endorsing Trump when she suspended, she challenged him to win over her supporters. Again, another half-assed attempt at being bold.

I just feel like an order to emerge from being a dark horse candidate to a serious contender on a national level, one has to take chances. Haley simply was either unwilling, or unable to do that.

I tried so hard and got so far
But in the end it doesn’t even matter

Linkin Park, “In the End”
Where have you gone, Mitt Romney?

There have been enough Republicans who have come out and sent enough messages to suggest that they do not agree with Donald Trump. However there have only been a brave few who have publicly spoken out against him.

Most of the Republican party is terrified of the man. I think, even more than that, they are afraid of his fan base. We need look no further than January 6, 2021 to see what they will try to do when they don’t get their way.

The truth is, MAGA and Trumpism are creations of the Republican party. They are the ones who created Frankenstein’s monster. They decided to hitch their proverbial wagon onto his star, for better, and for worse. Now they have to deal with him.

Once again, as they did in 2020, the GOP has decided that Trump is their “ride or die”. I’m curious to see how far back the GOP would be set by a Biden reelection.

Thursday’s State of The Union address by the president seems to have gone along way of shattering the perception of “sleepy Joe”. Even the talking heads of Fox News had to give credit or credit was due. At least, that’s how The Daily Show saw it…

@thedailyshow

Not sure Fox News realizes they’re making Biden ads now #DailyShow #FoxNews #Biden

♬ original sound – The Daily Show

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The article “Wither, Nikki Haley?“ first appeared on Rebuilding Rob.

9 responses to “Wither, Nikki Haley?”

  1. Silk Cords Avatar
    Silk Cords

    “You did that topic? You’re braver than I though.” – Princess Leia (paraphrased)

    I did political posts briefly. Lost followers from it also, so I gave up that fight. My politics have swung more left after being lied to, robbed and exploited by too many businesses in the last 4 years and having people respond “that’s just the way it is and it’s smart business”. Things are broken nowadays.

    Back in 2016, I was more conservative and a bit of a fan of Trump. After all the apologetic “can’t we just get along” conservatives like the Bushes, it seemed nice to have somebody finally say “Enough!”.

    THAT is what the left doesn’t understand. Trump MAY be the Pubs’ monster, but it was their rhetoric that created him. THAT could end up being a LONG rant though and perhaps best left to my own blog.

    I will say that you made a valid point about Haley not doing anything to distinguish herself. Her whole campaign seemed to be “I’m not Trump”. It takes more than that to win primaries.

    Funny, I saw a YouTube video about what’s wrong with Dwayne Johnson. They of course went after his obvious steroid use and denials about it, and how everything now is about marketing himself. The last part of the video talked about his repeated talk about running for President, even to the point of putting it in “Young Rock”. The video maker pointed out that it would likely never happen because The Rock is too afraid to take a stand on anything and lose some of his fan base and market share. They pointed to the way he backpedaled on setting up the Maui wildfires relief fund with Oprah; actually apologizing for trying to help people instead of telling the critics to stick it.

    So yeah, when all Haley has is “I’m not Trump”… She’s got branding issues.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. rebuilding rob Avatar
      rebuilding rob

      Yeah, as I said, at the beginning of this post: I had no intention of avoiding about Haley again, but everybody likes a trilogy, so I figured “why not?” 😝.

      I’ve always voted progressive. Our liberal if you wanna come with that. And the election of Trump seven years ago made me even more progressive in my political views. It has cost me some friendships and relationships says certain people I know have moved even farther to the right.

      At this point in my life, I have no tolerance for intolerance – if that makes any sense. My relatives have been telling you for almost 30 years “you’ll become more conservative when you get older“. I turned 50 in 5 weeks, so I’m not exactly sure when they think that’s supposed to happen.

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      1. Silk Cords Avatar
        Silk Cords

        I don’t think your relatives, or some of the famous people who have been quoted along those lines, imagined a world where 8 people control half the entire world’s wealth, and not only desire more, but are also backing AI and all the data mining going on to collect non-financial power as well.

        I could go on and on with loss of consumer and worker protections, etc…

        My biggest gripe with the Left at this point is the toxic dialog. It’s a vicious circle that only fuels the worst of each side.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. rebuilding rob Avatar
        rebuilding rob

        I’ll agree that it is toxic and it is a vicious circle, and I don’t know who really started, but my biggest gripe about liberals, as a liberals myself, is the same one that Bill Maher makes “liberals bring a knife to a gunfight“. I don’t see liberals is being more toxic; but that could just be because of the side of the fence that I’m standing on.

        But I’m a schoolteacher, and the last president, and the 24 hour cable “News” channel that supported him blindly for several years, accused teachers of “indoctrinating school children into communist agenda“ I took that personally.

        I’m not arguing with you or anything, and there’s no ill will intended here. I just get pretty fired up about this particular topic…obviously 😝

        Liked by 1 person

      3. rebuilding rob Avatar
        rebuilding rob

        I absolutely agree with you, that most of the friends and relatives in my life probably didn’t imagine the world economy being where it’s at, with eight people, controlling half of the world’s wealth, but that’s where this has all gotten us to. 🤷‍♂️

        Liked by 1 person

  2. Silk Cords Avatar
    Silk Cords

    No option to reply to the earlier comment, so I’ll do so as a new comment. Also not trying to pick fights, just help you see where the other side has been coming from. As said, I used to be more conservative, so I have a fair understanding of the sane side of their camp.

    Yes, Fox has lost any real credibility anymore, but the same thing has been going on with mainstream media since the Vietnam War era. Cronkite declared the war unwinnable due to the Tet Offensive, which was pushed back inside of a week. Not defending the way, just saying it was his job as a journalist to report facts, not interpret them and tell people what to think. I was a weird kid and listened to news radio in school while doing homework. I’d hear Reagan’s speeches live and unedited, then watch the evening news with my parents and hear network news deliberately misquoting him. Instead of allowing people to hear the issue and debate if moving school funding to the state level by transferring tax dollars from the Dept of Education to the state versions, they just reported Reagan wanted to cut federal funding of schools and eliminate the department of education.

    When conservatives tried to point out the truth and discuss the issues, they got attacked as liars who want US children to grow up as idiots. I could go on… Remember the phony draft dodging letter for GW Bush, or all the other ugly accusations? How about how Clinton was defended (and still is by some) for his repeated sexual assaults? Obama on a few occasions attacking police and it later turning out the police were in the right in those cases?

    This kind of thing is what gave rise to talk radio, Fox News and ultimately the Orange Man. When people are continually attacked and misrepresented for so long a time, the frustration reaches a boiling point.

    On a more personal note, I own *A* gun (one pistol)… because crime was horrible in our neighborhood and police simply wouldn’t respond. I’m rabidly for responsible ownership, yet am continually attacked by the Left as “part of the problem”, just looking for an excuse to kill people for fun, and in support of school children being massacred. THAT kind of malicious slander is what’s pushing more and more gun owners to embrace the idiocy put out by the NRA (NO, we can’t have mental health checks for buying a gun, that’s bad… WTF?!?).

    So yes, I understand your annoyance at the false indoctrination issues. I *have* seen that first hand at the college level, but never at the basic education level. My 2011 (return to) college history class and textbook talked about what a great job Carter did with the economy! I was aware enough to remember the 2 hour long gas lines and rationing, and hearing my parents talk about mortgages with a 26% interest rate and how we’d never afford a home. Nixon got (rightfully) blamed for Watergate, but no credit for founding the EPA.

    And over the years, the rhetoric has increasing ratcheted up on both sides. Nobody is willing to admit when the other side does something right, if they don’t try to outright sabotage it. Any little mistake by the other side is grounds for crucifixion, and no sin matters when it’s the same side doing it. Then, the ends justify the means.

    And the sad reality is the leadership on both sides is corrupt as hell. All this us vs them stuff is just a smoke screen to keep us from noticing how they’re all getting rich at our expense. 

    Nobody wants to genuinely understand where the other side is coming from though, so the extremes on each side gain more and more influence.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. rebuilding rob Avatar
      rebuilding rob

      Well said!

      I think the big reality check for both sides of the political spectrum is that there are far more moderates than either one of them even realizes. Even right now, in the this election year, both sides seem more interested in appealing to their already established fan bases, than they are in attracting the undecided or centrist voters. But with the numbers will tell you, in election after election, is that it’s the people in the middle who end up choosing the next president.

      This country has become so polarized that if you’re not one, you’re “the other”. And no one is willing to account for the fact that there’s an awful lot of people in the middle

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. Silk Cords Avatar
        Silk Cords

        Long winded and thanks for putting up with it. My goal was simply to show that it’s been an equally destructive back and forth on both sides for the longest time. Both parties have rational moderates in them, as well as there being people like me solidly in the middle who don’t trust either party regardless of our specific leanings.

        People like Mahar and Trump aren’t part of the problem, they ARE the problem. They thrive on conflict, hate and division. Jon Stewart leans left but at least he’s willing to point out when the Left is wrong. That’s a side tangent though, LOL

        We want to get this country back on a good path, we have to take it back from the extremes on both sides instead of hiding and giving them all the power.

        Liked by 1 person

  3. Silk Cords Avatar
    Silk Cords

    That should have been “not defending the war” BTW, not the way, LOL.

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