Is Donald Trump afraid of Nikki Haley? – The Express

Would Donald Trump be afraid of his opponent? Everything suggests that despite his triumph in Iowa on January 15 and his smaller victory in New Hampshire on January 23 during the Republican primaries, the ex-president is not entirely calm. This is evidenced by his threats and his aggressiveness towards the one he sometimes calls “Nimrada”, by excoriating the other first name of the candidate of Indian origin (Nimarata), or “Birdbrain”, which could be translated by “sparrow brain”. The day after the New Hampshire election, he described Haley’s candidacy as a “sham” and warned the Wall Street billionaires who finance the fifty-year-old’s campaign that they would be “blacklisted” if they persevere on this path.

“From now on, anyone who contributes financially to the ‘Sparrow Brains’ campaign will be banned forever from the MAGA movement,” Trump wrote on his social network Truth. “We don’t want them and we don’t accept them because we put America first and it will ALWAYS be that way.” Enough to give pause to businessmen wishing to remain on good terms with a possible Trump administration starting next year. Nikki Haley’s response, in the form of bravado, was immediate: “So in that case, send your donations here. Let’s go!”

This is because Trump’s former ambassador to the United Nations (2017-2018) does not allow herself to be intimidated. Trump wanted her to drop out of the race after New Hampshire? She remains in the running and continues her campaign with a new angle of attack: on her age and cognitive disorders comparable, according to her, to those of Biden. Trump Claims He Knows Embarrassing Private Secrets About Haley? The person concerned doesn’t care. Trump playing macho? She apostrophes him in the media: “Come debate with me on television if you have the courage, show that you have it!” The former president did not respond, having nothing to gain from such a confrontation.

“Trump will never admit it, but he’s disappointed with his performance in New Hampshire [seulement 11 points d’avance sur Haley contre 32 points d’avance dans l’Iowa une semaine auparavant] which is perhaps a harbinger of the difficulties to come”, deciphers the United States specialist Françoise Coste. “Winning in Iowa was easy because the Trumpist movement is solid there. But in New Hampshire, where it was an “open” primary [tout le monde peut voter, même les non-républicains, NDLR], the vote of independents from the educated middle class failed him. He couldn’t have failed to see it. However, this segment of voters will be decisive for the presidential election on November 5.”

Still 10% chance of victory for Haley…

Nikki Haley, who senses this excitement, has given up nothing. In her eyes – a matter of honor – it is obviously out of the question to throw in the towel before the next primaries on February 24 in South Carolina, a state of which she was governor from 2011 to 2017. “Of course, if she loses in “his” State – and currently the polls are not favorable to him – it will be difficult, if not impossible, for him to continue,” continues Coste. A defeat at home and it’s game over ! Unless Trump is suffering from a health problem.

“Nikki Haley probably mentally integrated this dramatic scenario,” adds Coste, who finds Trump in poor shape. “He doesn’t always finish his sentences; he sometimes goes from rooster to donkey,” she observes. She continues: “If Trump had a health incident or his legal troubles prevented him from running, then Haley would naturally become the Republican Party’s nominee, given that she is last in line.”

Trump refuses any debate

In addition, Nikki Haley can still win “regularly”. “She has one month left to promote the idea that Trump (like Biden) is too old, notes Célia Belin, of the European Council on Foreign Relations, who gives Haley a 10% chance of success. If she succeeds, she could arrive in a good position before the South Carolina vote.

The hypothesis is not entirely far-fetched. But the problem is that his personality is not up to date. A traditional Republican and neoconservative in the style of George W. Bush Jr., her profile does not correspond to the Republican Party as Donald Trump has transformed it.” In any case, beyond the primaries of his own camp, Donald Trump, 77, now knows that next November’s election against Biden, 81, may be more difficult than he initially imagined.

Another lesson from the Republican primary campaign: Trump refuses to debate with his opponents. In the first part of the campaign, all the Republican contenders participated in televised debates, except him. Today, Haley challenges him to a duel, but he does not take up the gauntlet because debating is never in the interest of the one who dominates the race. “Besides, his debate against Biden in 2020 was catastrophic. And facing Haley, 52, intellectually sharp, it is possible that he will do poorly.”

Trump, Father Prudent

Does Trump fear a televised face-to-face with “Sparrow Brain”? Apparently. Does this mean that the former president has already given up on any televised debate? It’s possible. “It would be extremely serious for American democracy,” continues Republican Party historian Françoise Coste (she wrote a biography of Ronald Reagan). Because since the first Nixon-Kennedy debate in 1960, this verbal joust, always closely followed, has been considered as a major democratic advance. It allows voters who, for the most part, follow political life from afar, to form an opinion.” Against Nikki Haley and for the future, Donald Trump seems to be playing it safe. Prudence ? A risky bet!