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Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Find someone who loves you the way trump and maga love traitors.

“They all knew.”

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

How stupid are these people?

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Stay strong, because they are weak.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Is trump is trying to break black America over his knee? signs point to ‘yes’.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

You are here: Home / Politics / Impeachment Inquiry / Repubs in Disarray!… Open Thread: Nikki Haley’s Delicate Balancing Act

Repubs in Disarray!… Open Thread: Nikki Haley’s Delicate Balancing Act

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Conventional wisdom, any time over the last forty years, has been that the first female president would be a Republican. (Or, we should amend, the first female winner of the popular vote allowed to take her earned seat in the Oval Office.) Nikki Haley has been working to be that woman for most of her adult life, but her best shot — and her new memoir — arrive at a tricksy point in the current electoral cycle: She can’t afford to denounce the sitting Republican president, for fear of angering his (Deplorable) base. But she can’t risk applauding too publicly someone who might be impeached, or worse, before her book tour is well under way.

Solution: Embrace the Oval Office Occupant; blame any ‘mistakes’ on the people around him. Even better, on the people who were around him, but have since been dismissed!

… In the book, which was obtained by The Washington Post ahead of its release Tuesday, Haley offers only glancing critiques of her former boss, saying she and others who worked for Trump had an obligation to carry out his wishes since he was the one elected by voters.

The former South Carolina governor, widely viewed by Republicans as a top potential presidential candidate in 2024, has repeatedly sought to minimize differences with Trump while distancing herself from his excesses. Haley, 47, writes that she backed most of the foreign policy decisions by Trump that others tried to block or slow down, including withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate accord and the relocation of the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

In a New York City interview with The Post coinciding with the book release, Haley also dismissed efforts by House Democrats to impeach Trump. She said she opposes Trump’s efforts to seek foreign help for political investigations in a call with Ukraine’s president, but that the actions are not impeachable.

“There was no heavy demand insisting that something had to happen. So it’s hard for me to understand where the whole impeachment situation is coming from, because what everybody’s up in arms about didn’t happen,” Haley said…

Reader Interactions

40Comments

  5. 5.

    Steeplejack

    @trollhattan:

    Please, no more Kathleen Parker! I’m still reeling from her “Clarence Thomas—great justice or greatest justice?” piece last week. Apparently she’s gunning for a single-digit tumbrel number.

  6. 6.

    Anya

    I can’t believe Kelly and Tillerson have better moral compass than NH. Nikki Hayley is an opportunist. She doesn’t have any believes or principles. All of her policies are based on whatever is popular with the deplorables at any given time. The only thing that’s off limits (to some extent) is white supremacy. She will pretend it’s not a problem but she won’t outright support it.

  8. 8.

    dmsilev

    @trollhattan: Speaking of WaPo pundits, if you want some hilarity, check out Hugh Hewitt’s latest column, in which he gets all pissy because commenters in his previous column pointed out that he is a partisan hack. And then, his suggestion for how the GOP Senate should handle Trump’s inevitable impeachment is to use a bunch of arcane parliamentary maneuvers that requires basically all of the GOP caucus to act to acquit Trump without voting to acquit him, which I’m sure will go over real well with e.g. Susan Collins (who would desperately like for the whole thing to go away, but not to have any of her fingerprints on the away-going-causation).

    Edit: Sample comment: “Hey, jerkwad, the majority of this country supports impeachment, and with good reason.”. Guess the Post’s moderation team doesn’t think much of Hewitt either

    Another: “There will be an accounting for amoral pigs like you. You are a white nationalist nazi sympathizing coward.”.

  9. 9.

    Mike in NC

    Any quick review of Nikki Haley’s time as governor of SC will reveal what an odious person she is. Even so far as to let other Republicans think she’s Native American.

  10. 10.

    Kay

    Trump loyalist gets her reward:

    Donald J. Trump
    @realDonaldTrump
    · 3h
    .@NikkiHaley is out with a new book, “With All Due Respect” this week. Make sure you order your copy today, or stop by one of her book tour stops to get a copy and say hello. Good luck Nikki!

    Gross.They’re coordinating on marketing.

  13. 13.

    Ohio Mom

    Haley is very poised — she has a real presence. She is also a very smooth liar, she is totally calculating. If she’s not setting herself up to run for President one day, she is certainly doing a very good imitation of someone who is aiming for the White House.

    I hate to think that we Democrats are paving the way for Haley by normalizing women running for the presidency. When Geraldine Ferraro and Sarah Palin ran for VP, they were novelties.

    Now we’ve had Hillary, Warren, Harris, Klobuchar, Gillibrand, and the two I don’t bother to mention by name. It’s not surprising or unexpected to see a woman candidate anymore.

    A lot of things can and will happen, I won’t worry about Haley right now. But she does make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. She’s scary in her absolute untrustworthiness.

  14. 14.

    schrodingers_cat

    My schaden is freuded. In Maharashtra’s BJP’s electoral alliance with Shiv Sena has broken down. And they won’t be forming the state government, inspite of winning the most seats.

  19. 19.

    Kay

    The consolidation of corporate America has become severe enough to have macroeconomic effects. Profits have surged, and wages have stagnated. Investment in new factories and products has also stagnated, because many companies don’t need to innovate to keep profits high. Philippon estimates that the new era of oligopoly costs the typical American household more than $5,000 a year.

    Just wild how much more Americans pay than anywhere else. It’s like a corruption tax.

  20. 20.

    Kay

    @Mary G:

    I don’t know that I would have gone all-in on Trumpism if I were her. A lot can change in 5 years, and she has to run outside South Carolina if she wants to be president.

  23. 23.

    sdhays

    There was no heavy demand insisting that something had to happen.

    So, withholding hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid isn’t a “heavy demand”? Tell me, Haley, what the f*ck would a “heavy demand” be, then?

  24. 24.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Anya:

    I can’t believe Kelly and Tillerson have better moral compass than NH

    Well, these are the people that shocked John Bolton of all people. I mean it’s possible to a crook and not be a traitor.

  27. 27.

    Redshift

    @Ohio Mom:

    I hate to think that we Democrats are paving the way for Haley by normalizing women running for the presidency.

    I don’t really get the concern. It’s not like the male Republicans are any less bad.

  28. 28.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: Someone should ask Nikki why she checked out (officially, that is) from the administration shortly after Khashoggi’s murder. It’s almost like she knew that someone within the WH had greenlit AK’s kidnapping/rendition/murder and didn’t want to be around when the other shoe dropped.

    Now, she’s like…”they didn’t get him for it?” Trumpov/Kushner paid no price? It’s…it’s like a brave new world, where no one gets held accountable for ANYTHING! I think I’ll write a book, mildly praise trumpov (to keep myself viable with the rubes) and see how it all shakes out! Booya!

  29. 29.

    John Revolta

    Know what ELSE is the death penalty for a public official? The Presidency. After the President leaves office, his political career is over, one way or the other.

    Also: conventional wisdom always told us that the first Black President would be a Republican.

  31. 31.

    Jeffro

    @sdhays: This is what they ALWAYS do: downplay any immoral/unethical/norm-busting/law-breaking thing that a trumpublican does, when they know full well that it would be the death knell for any Democrat.

    That’s why I return to this again and again, and I hope Dems will use it from now until the end of time: pick a standard. GOP. Any standard. High or low. Complex or not. Anything at all under the sun…and agree that it is the standard for both trumpublicans and Democrats.

    Using insecure email/WhatsApp/etc?
    Having one’s children as WH advisers? (And getting them security clearances they would never have had on their own, to boot?)
    Keeping hold of one’s business interests even after one takes the Oath of Office?
    Using social media on a daily basis to target American citizens? Businesses? Bash whole groups of Americans?
    Spending 1/3 of one’s days at one’s own golf course (or other recreational facility)?

    And on and on…

    In theory, the GOP should be okay with President Malia Obama spending two days of every week at her water park, with the Secret Service floating along in the ‘lazy river’ at taxpayer expense.

    In theory, the GOP should be okay with President Chelsea Clinton spending most of her day, all day, every day posting pictures of her favorite liberal pundits and causes on Instagram.

    In theory, the GOP should be okay with President Hunter Biden banging porn stars and paying them (via a Delaware shell corporation, no less, LOL!) to keep quiet during his campaign.

    In theory, the GOP should be okay with the Klobuchar family engaging in multigenerational tax fraud, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.

    In theory, the GOP should be okay with President Harris telling Taiwan that unless the president of Taiwan gets in front of a camera and announces the start of an investigation into Nikki Haley for unbridled corruption and graft, they will not get hundreds of $M in defense aid to protect against Chinese aggression. Oh and THEN with President Harris insisting this was a ‘perfect call’. Oh and THEN with President Harris demanding to know who blew the whistle on her bribery/extortion attempt.

    YOU’RE GOOD WITH ALL OF THAT GOING FORWARD, RIGHT GOP?

  33. 33.

    Ohio Mom

    @Redshift: Agree, they all stink. But after watching videos of Haley, she seems much a smoother operator than most of the Republicans.

    Also, I could imagine suburban women (the people we are hoping Trump is driving into our arms) going for her because they think women are nicer than men and she reminds them of themselves. And they’ll get to see themselves as trendy for supporting a women.

  34. 34.

    Keith P.

    @John Revolta: It not only ended that President who failed to get elected to mayor of Mooseport@John Revolta: Anything short of SCOTUS would be a step down for a former President (and really, so would SCOTUS, except it’s a lifetime appointment where you largely self-police), plus the money for speeches (or watercolors) is too good to do some cush job like mayor of Mooseport.

  36. 36.

    hells littlest angel

    Shorter Nikki Haley: ‘Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I’ve seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout “Save us!”… and I’ll look down, and whisper “No.”‘

  39. 39.

    hitchhiker

    All I can say is that if Ms Haley comes to Seattle to sell her book, she’s not going to enjoy the welcome we’ll prepare for her.

    She’s never, ever gonna wash the trump-stink off her hands.

  40. 40.

    Ladyraxterinok

    For a while many believed the 1st woman POTUS would be Elizabeth Dole. Then some few thought Kay Bailey Hutchinson of TX

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