Besides, being flush with funds, Nikki has no time to waste on trivia. Nikki says she is seeing a “two person race” from now on, between Trump and Nikki Haley, who else? This despite Nikki Haley coming in third, behind Ron DeSantis in Iowa. Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy dropped to fourth but had the sense to call it quits and endorse Donald Trump for which he got loud applause and a pat on the back from Trump.

Nikki is not impressed. There are people who say Nikki Haley is the “Left’s favourite Republican” though Iowa was a total disaster for Nikki. She failed to reach second place and she turned out to be great friends with Democrats and mainstream media. Democrats who registered ‘Republican’ for a day voted for Haley, prompting DeSantis to assert that “core Republicans” wouldn’t ever line up to vote for the former UN Ambassador.

Currently, even after the Iowa setback, Nikki Haley is the mainstream media favourite. And Haley won Johnson County, beating Donald Trump by one vote, the only county that she won in the Iowa caucuses. A rare feat, indeed. And the reason why politicians like Ted Cruz are asking for Haley and DeSantis to end their campaigns is because they don’t stand a chance. Trump is too strong to mess with. In Johnson County, Democrats flooded the “room” to give Haley that one vote victory.

Whether she can do a repeat in other states is hard to tell. Unless there are plenty of listless Republicans with no love lost for Donald Trump. Nikki Haley traverses an easier path in New Hampshire. But here, too, Trump is the frontrunner. Nikki’s supporters — the mainstream media and Democrat-turned-Republican voters — are backing her and are expecting her to do well in counties similar to Johnson County.

A Haley victory in New Hampshire can make things difficult for Trump. That said, some media have questions regarding Haley’s sex and race and these are the people who say that Haley’s “race and sex” are the “elephant in the room”. Haley has marked herself “White” in government records, but “she’s still a brown lady — in a party which has always been anti-immigrant”. Ask Donald Trump and he will say “immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country.”

Certain analysts say Haley will get “birthered” by President Donald Trump — the problem for Haley is there are too many “White Christians” voting in the Republican primaries. And these voters have divergent views with Haley on several key issues agitating the white Christian mind. Like, for example, on the Ukraine-Russia war and on Israel’s War on Gaza.

Haley’s perceived foreign policy strength is actually a weakness which places her at a disadvantage. The main Haley problem is she’s a “Republican running on the Democrat ticket”. However, but for Democrats, Haley would have been out of the Republican nominee race after the Iowa defeat.

The good thing is people are voting — and despite the “frigid Iowa” conditions, people voted. Donald Trump with 51 percent vote won. Ron DeSantis with 21 percent beat Nikki Haley, with 19 percent, to second place. Vivek Ramaswamy with 8 percent quit and endorsed Trump, which is a good guess why he will be in a likely Trump cabinet.

January 23 will be the New Hampshire primary and though Trump leads, Nikki Haley fancies her chances and Republicans across the United States are questioning Haley’s optimism. Haley made a mistake and Iowa heard her loud and clear when she asked New Hampshire voters to “correct Iowa voters”. She got punished for that and New Hampshire is now supposed to correct Iowa. “Will it?” is the million dollar question.

Haley’s one problem is she works hard to present herself as a hardened snob. She keeps turning up her nose and it’s not a pleasant sight. For the longest time, Nikki Haley targeted Vivek Ramaswamy and their to-and-fros presented some electric moments in the Republican debates. Now, she has proceeded to give DeSantis the same treatment and the “Lady” says she is the one person of “a two-person race” with the other person none other than “Donald Trump”, DeSantis be damned. In fact, Nikki Haley's "Hillary Rodham Clinton Act" is hard to beat. (IPA Service)