Daily Times

While the race for the White House gets tense, with more candidates hinting at their potential bids for 2024, strong power from Miami-Dade seems to be composing reflection to 2016. Possible contenders from the GOP are looking to re-shape a party deeply rooted in a crisis surrounding the Former President, who was the first and is the only person to announce his bid for Office. And while the announcement comes after a major loss for the GOP in November’s Mid-Term election, it stands to show just how falsely optimistic the Trump Campaign is about next November. Now, the primary dates remain unresolved, and the debates are not yet set, but the basic prospect of an opponent to Trump-from his circle-is an intriguing enlightening sane part of the GOP.

Florida Governors usually felt entitled to run for office, following their second re-election. Jeb Bush-President Bush’s brother and former Florida Governor-was the last GOP Floridian to be among the favourites. This time, Incumbent Gov. Ron DeSantis is prepping an announcement in the coming days. Following these leaks from the press, Trump made clear after campaign stops in New Hampshire, that for him (Trump), it’s about “Loyalty.”

And it is. Trump made Ron DeSantis the power dynamic he is today. He went up and down the state, and even across the mid-west campaigning for him and giving examples of excellence in an attempt to build a base among Hispanic voters, who greatly identify with DeSantis.

Nikki Haley was always an understudy to the GOP’s bigger plan to control congressional legislation and foreign policy.

VP Pence, who brought significant amounts of the evangelical vote to Trump, is now also considering a run for office, going on a book tour that is anything but an announcement. His campaign should act as a rebuttal to the last year of the Trump Presidency, including the fact that his former Boss humiliated him, after inciting a violent insurrection on the Capitol. Trump is yet to comment on Pence’s announcement, but the very fact that a VP shuffle in his campaign could be imminent is enough of a reason to assume things in the Trump Camp are going entirely well.

This, coupled with loads of irony faced by the campaign team who work to defend every inflammatory statement made by Donald Trump, includes many statements that were already used as attack ads in 2016. Calling Hispanic immigrants “criminals” was just the beginning of that story.

And while DeSantis and Pence don’t have Trump’s blessing to make DC his next stop, another GOP rising star is snatching the headlines in an attempt to appeal to whatever amount of the base she can carry in a heavily contested election cycle. Nikki Haley was always an understudy to the GOP’s bigger plan to control congressional legislation and foreign policy.

Haley-a former South Carolina Governor, and Ambassador to the United Nations-was an unorthodox figure in the party. After spending two years in the Trump Administration-which involved intense amounts of breaks with the former President-Haley elegantly bowed out citing what was an ideology issue. Though Haley’s exit was seen as a friendly exit, sources close to the former President noted that Haley, along with Trump’s Daughter Ivanka, wished to oust VP Pence to install a new VP, especially close to the 2020 election.

A problematic past in the administration was not the only thing that decorated her Résumé for what she thinks will be her historic win for the White House.

Haley was the first female Governor of a very conservative state. During her tenure, she was criticised largely because of her affiliation with the Tea Party movement, which was a growing force in the state of South Carolina. She and Tim Scott-now a United States Senator-helped push ideas that were not known to Washington in their state to help craft a new base and secure their political careers by appealing to a wider electorate. She was also subject to much criticism after she feuds with general assembly members and her converse reactions to what were multiple legislative procedures being held hostage by either party.

She was also known as a party favourite, given that she was of Indian Heritage and brought with her a range of expertise, including that of the business sector. Creating jobs was a priority for her, and along with tax cuts for small businesses, her bi-partisan efforts.

But there were instances such as her handling of the confederate history in the state in response to the Charleston shootings that made her popular. And among her best moments was also the response to President Obama’s last State of the Union Address, where she aimed at the Democrats while also attempting to steer away from then-Candidate Trump, who seemed noisy at the time. While her tenure was largely a flip-flop, it was an open secret that the Carolinas could do better, and they did. Haley was a strong figure but had a weak sense of action.

Haley is expected to announce her run on the 15th of February, just days after President Biden’s State of the Union Address. The Question on everyone’s mind is, will she win?

She said on an occasion in 2021, that she would not run if Trump ran in 2024, but broke with her statement when she called Trump and told him that she was going to run for Office, noting again on Fox News that, “It is time for a new generation. It is time for more leadership. … We have to remember, too, we have lost the last seven out of eight popular votes for president,”

Her electability is a conversation for another day, but her announcement is a testament to the fact that she retains popularity and optimism to be America’s first Female President.

The writer is a columnist and a linguistic activist.