Last year, after Donald Trump mocked House Majority Whip Tom Emmer and derailed the Minnesotan’s bid for House speaker, Emmer would’ve been justified in holding a grudge. Instead, the congressman went to great lengths to curry favor with the former president, offering Trump sycophantic support.
“They always bend the knee,” Trump said soon after.
The phrase came to mind watching Nikki Haley endorse her former primary rival at the Republican National Convention. A Washington Post report summarized:
Haley focused on making a logical case for Trump and giving her supporters the permission structure to back a candidate she once suggested this year was unfit for the presidency and “unhinged.” (Notably, Haley had called on Trump to make his case to her voters after she dropped out; he never really did, but now she has.) Haley said Republicans should back Trump even if they don’t agree with him all the time, as she doesn’t.
Haley nevertheless declared that she was giving Trump her “strong endorsement, period.”
The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations didn’t have to do this. Indeed, plenty of her GOP contemporaries chose a different course. But Haley still wants a future in Republican politics, so she played the role of a loyal, partisan soldier.
It’s worth pausing, though, to acknowledge the weird and circuitous path the South Carolinian has followed.
Eight years ago, when there was still some question as to whether Trump would be able to take over the Republican Party, Haley was categorical in rejecting Trump — and Trumpism. “I will not stop until we fight a man that chooses not to disavow the KKK. That is not a part of our party,” she said in 2016. “That is not who we want as president.”
Around the same time, Haley added, “I have to tell you, Donald Trump is everything I taught my children not to do in kindergarten.”
A year later, Haley reversed course and joined Trump’s team.
After Jan. 6, Haley reversed course again, telling Politico after the attack on the Capitol that Trump “went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again.”
Soon after, Haley reversed course again, re-embraced party orthodoxy, defended Trump, and vowed not to run against him in 2024.
A year and a half later, Haley reversed course again and challenged Trump for their party’s nomination. During their primary fight, she told voters that the former president had become “unstable and unhinged.” After Trump went after her husband, Haley said Trump is “not qualified” to be president.
She later reversed course again, leading to her convention endorsement.
I’m reminded of something National Review’s Philip Klein wrote in 2021: “A few weeks ago, back when she thought tide was turning against Trump, Haley said he would be ‘judged harshly by history.’ Now she realized she got ahead of her skis and is trying to take it back. As I’ve written, she is a human chameleon. She thinks we’re too dumb to notice.”
Plenty of Republicans have made the transition from Trump critic to Trump supporter. His own running mate falls into the category. But no one in public life has changed their minds about Trump more than Haley.
