Nikki Haley's 'presidential dream could become a nightmare' -- here's why

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is reportedly planning to announce her bid for the 2024 Republican party nomination soon and, according to a report from Politico, she may find the party that has been reshaped by Donald Trump won't welcome her with open arms.

In fact, as Lauren Leader of All In Together wrote, despite her connection to the former president as his ambassador to the United Nations, her desire to be the Commander in Chief will likely be greeted with open hostility simply because she is a woman.

As Leader explained, "if this were the Republican Party of 10 years ago, Haley would be a candidate with enviable advantages, having served as a South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador. She is staunchly pro-life, and she is a woman of color — significant for a party that has wanted to diversify for years."

But that was then and this is now.

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Now Haley wants to be the face of a party that has grown more overtly hostile to women and "her presidential dream could become a nightmare."

Noting the problems that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton faced in 2016 among Democrats who were unsure about a woman president, Leader suggested the current Republican Party is far worse today for Haley.

"On the Republican side, Carly Fiorina faced an endless barrage of sexist attacks from then-candidate Donald Trump and others when she ran for president in 2016. And women of color in the political arena, like Haley, are twice as likely as other candidates to be targeted with misinformation and disinformation," Leader wrote before adding, "Haley could very likely have it worse than the candidates did in 2016, encountering a veritable buzz saw of sexist and racist attacks from the moment she declares her presidential run. That’s because the base of the Republican Party, the most rabid and committed primary voters, has become more male and more far-right since Trump became the party standard bearer."

She added that Haley could also face opposition from Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) who have "both embraced anti-feminism, despite their own career ambitions," with Leader explaining, "Lauren Boebert may be a back bencher, but she was part of the crew that held [Kevin] McCarthy’s speaker vote hostage. She told the Denver Post that she believes 'women are the lesser vessel, and we need masculinity in our lives to balance that.'"

"Haley faces a high hurdle in even convincing Republican voters that a woman can be president. A December 2022 USA Today poll revealed just how challenging gender is in Republican politics. Overall, a majority of voters (55 percent) say that gender doesn’t matter in presidential elections. Those who did have a preference chose a male president by more than 2-1, 28 percent-12 percent," she wrote before warning, "Among Republicans, 50 percent said the ideal president would be male while a paltry 2 percent said she would be female."

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