Author slams 'pathetic' Nikki Haley’s inconsistent Trump support

In a New York Times op-ed published Tuesday, August 29, Duke University professor of journalism and public policy Frank Bruni argues that despite the display of "undeniable smarts" on the GOP debate stage, former South Carolina governor and Republican candidate Nikki Haley is "pathetic."

He writes, "I have this thing called a memory. And as one of my favorite classic rock bands pledged, I won't get fooled again. Past Haley, present Haley, future Haley: They're all constructs, all creations, malleable, negotiable, tethered not to dependable principle but to reliable opportunism. That's the truth of her. That's the hell of her."

Recalling Haley's inconsistent support of former President Donald Trump since his loss to President Joe Biden in 2020, Bruni emphasizes, "When I tell you that's pathetic, it's an understatement."

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The professor references a December 2020 profile that then Politico journalist Tim Alberta wrote about the GOP hopeful, noting that "for a month," former President Donald "Trump had been denying the results of the presidential election, spreading his conspiracy theories, undermining the peaceful transfer of power and doing profound damage to the country. And while Haley let Alberta know that she had the president's ear and had called him in the middle of it all, she made equally clear that she hadn’t felt a smidgen of responsibility to talk some sense and decency into him."

A month later, after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Bruni notes, "Along came the insurrection of Jan. 6, and Haley suddenly snapped to. She talked to Alberta on Jan. 12. She told him she was 'disgusted' by Trump's treatment of [former Vice President and 2024 GOP hopeful] Mike Pence. 'When I tell you I’m angry, it's an understatement,' she said."

However, after "The Senate had acquitted Trump of the charges that led to his second impeachment. Many other Republican leaders had moved on from any denunciations of his actions on Jan. 6. And his hold on the party’s' base had proved enduring," Bruni writes — and that includes Haley.

The "Beauty of the Dusk" author adds that "By April, her ire was embers and her vow a puff of smoke. At a public appearance in Orangeburg, S.C., she told The Associated Press that if Trump decided to run for president again, she would support him and would not seek the Republican Party's nomination herself. (Ha!)"

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Bruni's full op-ed is available at this link (subscription required).