Nikki Haley is last woman standing between Trump v Biden rematch

WASHINGTON: A fading Nikki Haley and a mere 24 hours appear to stand between a Donald Trump-Joe Biden rematch in November 2024 after Florida governor Ron Desantis dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination on Sunday. In fact, Trump is so far ahead of Nikki Haley in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary that pundits are already writing her off, as the MAGA juggernaut is crushing the never-Trumpers within the GOP.
Polls ahead of Tuesday's primary show Trump leading Haley by 10 to 20 points despite her jubilation at DeSantis dropping out. Celebration of what she described as a "two-person race" now, and her ridiculing of two 80-year old's (Trump and Biden) vying for the White House, has barely made a dent in her prospects as the party rank and file, including her own associates from her home state of South Carolina, are lining up behind Trump.
“If either one of them was good, I wouldn’t be running,” Haley told the media on Sunday, referring to the possibility of a Biden-Trump rematch. But despite her exertions in New Hampshire, where independents without parrty affiliation are allowed to vote in the primaries, not a single poll shows her winning.
Haley's best chance is a close second powered by independents that will keep her campaign alive till the primary on February 24 in her home state of South Carolina. Even there Trump has a ten-point lead, and major Republican leaders in the state have endorsed the former President.

So why is Nikki Haley still in the race? Because momentum shifts can occur suddenly and unexpectedly in US politics, as Howard Baker in 1980 (against Ronald Reagan) and Gary Hart in 1988 (against Michael Dukakis) can attest. Both were early leaders but were brought down by missteps and scandals. The winner of the first 2-3 primary races is not always the eventual nominee.
But nothing appears to be affecting the Trump juggernaut powered by his loyal MAGA base: Not a slew of court cases nor visible cognitive decline that caused him to misidentify Nikki Haley as Nancy Pelosi. If anything, his travails appear to be consolidating support for him, with anti-establishment political insurgents seeing him as a saviour.
So supremely confident is Trump of his victory that on Monday he was already speaking about whether DeSantis -- who offered a simpering endorsement after he bowed out following a 30 point thrashing in Iowa -- would serve in his future administration.

A rout in the New Hampshire primary will likely lead Haley down the same path as DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy, both of whom dropped out and endorsed Trump, although her supporters have said she will hang on till Super Tuesday on March 5 when 15 states hold their caucuses or primaries that will decisively determine the nominee. But lasting that long will not only require a good showing in New Hampshire and perhaps a win in South Carolina, but also energy, resources, and momentum. For now, Trump appears to have it all, with Haley's political comet heading towards oblivion.