“Another faux pas from Nimarata” commented triumphantly, television and newspapers siding with Donald Trump after Nikki Haley – his administration's UN ambassador and now his opponent in the race for the White House – made a big deal by she talked about the origins of the American Civil War of the nineteenth century without mentioning slavery, which was its main cause. Harshly attacked, the only woman of weight on the Republican front, who had already been under fire for some time from the other candidates who also used sexist arguments against her, tried to limit the damage: “I'm a woman from the South, “Do that.” You want me not to do it. Did you know? Of course it depended on slavery, I wanted to go beyond the obvious.”
The attack on the two octogenarians
In reality, the incident during a meeting with voters in New Hampshire was serious and damaged the image Haley wanted to build: a conservative candidate like Trump, but more capable than him, more electable and with sounder principles. And younger. The Donald often attacks Biden, who is three years older than him, and calls him stupid: But the most successful television commercial of an election campaign, in which Nikki spends much more than Ron DeSantis and Trump himself, embarrasses the leaders of the two parties on the same level: “Do you really want two octogenarians running the country?”
DeSantis passed
Nikki Haley started from the back and made up ground, reaching and now overtaking what seemed to be Trump's only real challenger until a few months ago: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Apart from the polls that show her increasingly distant from the ex-president, the evidence that she has become his most dangerous opponent lies precisely in the ex-president's election campaign, which intensified and began the attacks against Nikki , calling her names Nimarata and the last name she had before her marriage to Michael Haley, Randhawa, to underline her foreign origins. Woman and also Indian: This is the not even entirely subliminal message that is being passed on to the hearts of the conservative electorate, especially the white ones and often with some chauvinistic tendencies.
Indian roots
In reality, Nikki is an American of Indian origin: she was born in the United States (otherwise she would not have been able to aspire to the White House) and is the daughter of two emigrants from Punjab who arrived in South Carolina over half a century ago, where she lived for thirty years taught at schools and universities for a long time and at the same time ran an exotic clothing store. Nikki, who belongs to the Sikh religion, converted to Christianity when she married Michael, whom she met at school. The now 51-year-old woman has integrated herself so well into American society that she managed to be elected governor of South Carolina in 2010. Six years later, her position became vacant when Trump appointed her to be part of his administration: ambassador to the United Nations and member of the National Security Council.
The accusation of opportunism
Judgments about them vary. Those who criticize her consider her to be an opportunist with few principles: During the 2016 election campaign, she called candidate Trump anti-American because he had threatened to deny Muslims entry into the seven Islamic countries. Today, Haley attacks Trump for his lack of respect for US institutions and allies, but in the years of his presidency he has done nothing to stop him.
According to the bad guys, she only went to the field to show off and be chosen by Trump as his deputy: she only started to hit hard when she realized that the Donald had other intentions. Those who support it (even the Koch billionaires and many Republican financiers looking for an alternative to Trump) see in all this signs of pragmatism, political maturity and maneuverability.
Very far away
But the goal is still a long way off for her: in Iowa, where the vote will take place on January 15th, she has around 20 percent of the vote in the polls, while Trump has 50 percent. In New Hampshire (January 23 primary) it rose to 26% (with Trump at 44). Here it could prove, if not winning, a credible alternative. But then it's South Carolina's turn: It's his state, but Trump has worked hard here and has gained the greatest distance from his pursuers.