Gentle Reader: As you no doubt know, the Sunday TV talk shows all had large segments devoted to reporting on, and commenting about, the South Carolina Republican Primary Election held the day before, on Saturday. They, of course, reported that former president, Donald John Trump, had won with approximately 60% of the votes, and former South Carolina governor, Nikki Haley, had lost with approximately 40% of the votes.
Thus far, Mr. Trump has won every Republican Party primary and caucus that has been held. And in the aftermath of each of these events, one or more of the people who had run against Mr. Trump came out and announced that he was, 1. suspending his campaign, or 2, was withdrawing from the race, or 3, was quitting. In any event, he was no longer a candidate, and he was now backing Mr. Donald John Trump as his candidate for president and would help to get him elected!
As we all know, some days ago, before the South Carolina primary, Nikki Haley had announced that regardless of the outcome of that election she would remain as a candidate for the Republican nomination to be the GOP nominee to run for the presidency. And, as the polls closed, and the results came in showing her to have received about 40% to Trump’s approximate 60%, she took to the podium and verified her previous promise. In doing so, she reminded her Republican audience that she is an accountant, and knows that 40% is not 50%, but that even so she intended to persevere as a candidate.
All of the talking heads on the following Sunday talk shows seemed to be baffled by Nikki’s intention to keep on keeping on, and none of them seemed to be able to comprehend how, or why, she has come to this position. Some of them almost seemed to be personally offended that she would dare to continue in a race which she has no hope of winning. Which just goes to show once again that most, if not all, of these “talking heads,” whether reporters or analysts, or other specialized fields, simply do not comprehend the current political age, and in particular the Republicans — old and new.
As an old codger with eighty years experience watching, and participating in these operations, I think that I may have some small insight into what Nikki is thinking, and why she is not following in the expected path that all of her colleagues have trod.
First of all, Nikki is a mature woman, but one with many years of active life still before her. She has shown that she is a woman of personal ambition, but she is also motivated by her status as a first generation American immigrant, with Asian Indian roots and a drive to make her parents and her antecedents proud of her.
Being a woman, and first generation, she is not burdened with many of the old attitudes, or prejudices that hold sway over many other women. And, as shown by her allusion to her position as an accountant, she has a greater grasp of the realities of situations than many without the benefit of that capacity to see things as they are.
It is clear that Nikki enjoys public life, and public position, and she would not relish being shunted to the sidelines in her party’s activities. So, as we see it, she is determined to be out front, where the action is, not, as another powerful lady once opined, not home baking cookies.
So, as long as she is a candidate, even a losing candidate, she is a participant, and should Trump die, or be removed, she, as the surviving candidate, would have certain expectations, and would be a participant in any event.
Now, of course, if Trump survives and becomes the Republican nominee and wins the November election, she would be persona non grata with the MAGA Republicans, but there would be a sizable segment of the old-line GOP who would welcome her as they regroup and reorganize to reclaim the party, or found a new one.
But if, as more likely, Trump survives and becomes the Republican nominee and loses the November election, many of the traditional Republicans will remember her warnings and predictions, and follow her leadership towards a reconstituted Republican Party which will try to remember Teddy Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, John McCain, Howard Baker and other Republican statesmen, and forget that Donald John Trump ever claimed to be a Republican.
All of this is speculation, of course, but it will be interesting to follow the course of events, and see how far wrong we might be, or just possibly, how close to right our speculations might turn out to be.
Inasmuch as we have a few lines of space available, let us return briefly to the matter of old age and failing minds.
Our thoughts were turned in this direction as the result of a segment on the PBS News Hour two or three weeks ago that had a couple of college professors to discuss the matter. They were from Duke and Columbia, if I recall. They were interesting, but seemed to be short of authorative statistics. Then it occurred to me. There are no really authorative statistics on the relationship between age and mental state for the simple reason that it is only those people who have problems with loss of memory or other mental ailments who consult the doctors who deal with such problems.
Those who go on having birthdays and continue to function within normal boundaries see no reason (and in fact there is none) to see a doctor or other medical or psychiatric professional. They’re just going on with their lives and see no need to see a medical man just to confirm that they don’t have a mental problem.
The opinions expressed in this column do not reflect the views of this newspaper.
