OPINION: Two Women Battle for Soul of Republican Party

It’s a party now more Kristi Noem than Nikki Haley.  The latter appears the last gasp of the old internationalist/globalist wing.  Noem is more populist firebrand.  The woman has been on my political radar since she first left the family farm and served in the U.S. House of Representatives.  She had the support of the old Tea Party brigades.  Noem now serves as Governor of South Dakota.

Haley served as Governor of South Carolina and then a stint as United Nations Ambassador under President Trump.  After she burnished her resume, she threw him under a bus.  She’s rolling the dice.  She believes his brand of politics will be out of fashion in three years.  She’s Mitt and Jeb but with longer hair.

Her tenure in South Carolina was dominated by a need to appease newspaper editorial writers.  She changed the state’s flag after a mass shooting by a racist.  As if a flag someone encouraged violence by a warped teenager.  Media celebrated her symbolic effort.  Nothing else really changed.

Noem wouldn’t buy into the COVID panic.  Media assailed the Governor.  As the dust settles on the pandemic, the numbers in South Dakota are comparable to much of America.  Including those places where draconian steps were taken and civil liberties trampled.  The places where the news media cheered the despots while at the same time making claims President Trump was interfering with the First Amendment liberties of reporters.  Because he didn’t praise them and carry the “woke” water bucket.

This morning I came across this link.  The old guard never liked Trump.  They see an opportunity.  They’re delighted they can resume selling you like a commodity while they soft-pedal the butchery of the Chinese regime.  The same regime eating flyover country’s lunch the last quarter century.  American political elites see Trump as an aberration.

This isn’t the end of the story.  The patriots (nationalists as some in media define us and as if it’s a bad thing) have a foothold within the party.  And they’re on to Haley, Romney and McConnell.