Nikki Haley has been the poster girl for have-it-both-ways-ism since the Very Stable Genius lost the November election.
In mid-December, the was playing the we-must-humor-him-in-his-delusion card:
Channeling George Costanza in mid-December, Haley refused to confront Trump over his election lies because he believed they were true. “I understand the president. I understand that genuinely, to his core, he believes he was wronged,” Haley told Alberta. “This is not him making it up.”
Then came the interview with Tim Alberta of Politico in which she went for the he's-done-as-a-force-in-our-party angle:
“We need to acknowledge he let us down,” Haley, who served in her ambassador role under Trump, said. “He 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.”
Haley’s remarks are her strongest yet against the former president in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and come as Trump's legal team is set to present its defense of Trump on Friday in his second Senate impeachment trial.
She was mighty ticked off, doncha know:
“When I tell you I’m angry, it’s an understatement,” Haley said. “I am so disappointed in the fact that [despite] the loyalty and friendship he had with Mike Pence, that he would do that to him. Like, I’m disgusted by it.”
Then, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, she went for the oh-come-on-let's-be-grown-ups-capable-of-embracing-complexity-here-and-eschew-polarization angle:
. . . the liberal media . . . wants to stoke a nonstop Republican civil war. The media playbook starts with the demand that everyone pick sides about Donald Trump—either love or hate everything about him. The moment anyone on the right offers the slightest criticism of the 45th president, the media goes berserk: Republicans are trying to have it both ways! It’s a calculated strategy to pit conservatives against one another. It’s also a ridiculous false choice. Real life is never that simple. Someone can do both good and bad things.
People feel strongly about Mr. Trump, but we can acknowledge reality. People on the left, if they’re honest, can find Trump accomplishments they like—a coronavirus vaccine in record time, Middle East peace, more accountability from China. People on the right can find fault with Trump actions, including on Jan. 6. Right or left, when people make these distinctions, they’re not trying to have it both ways. They’re using their brains.
Just as important, they’re proving people are more than their party affiliations. If we can’t make judgments beyond whether someone is Republican or Democrat, then America can’t face its biggest challenges. We separate into two camps that always hate each other. We become estranged from family and friends over politics.
And now comes the hardee-har-har moment.
She wanted to make the pilgrimage, a la Kevin McCarthy, to Mar-a-Lago, but the VSG has said, "Nothing doing."
She's certainly mastered the art of 2021 Republican self-abasement, although, to be fair, it seems she's been outdone, at least for the time being, by Ted Cruz. How were the margaritas at that Cancun resort, Ted?
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