Keller @ Large: Nikki Haley tries to exploit Trump's chaos as a weakness
BOSTON - The large majorities of Republicans who support former President Donald Trump are a daunting sight to the candidates trying to compete with him for the 2024 GOP nomination. But there's at least one significant weakness in Trump's appeal that's been evident since he first took office in 2017.
When we went to a diner in Billerica (one of the few Massachusetts towns Trump carried in 2016) to survey reaction to his first 100 days in office, there was one thing that united both supporters and critics.
"I hate the tweeting," said one fan.
"Some of his tweets are kinda crazy," offered another.
Over a year later, a national poll showed nearly a quarter of those who said they approved of Trump's performance voiced concern about his often chaotic conduct, exemplified by the aggressive tweeting. Which leads us to Nikki Haley, Trump's former UN Ambassador, trying to consolidate the non-Trump vote without angering his formidable base.
"Chaos follows him, rightly or wrongly, chaos follows him and now is a time where we have a country in disarray and a world on fire," she said during a recent CNN interview. "We can't afford four more years of chaos and survive it."
Chaos. That's the weakness Haley is trying to exploit in paid ads and TV debates. "We have to leave behind the chaos and drama of the past and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose," she said in her commercials. "We have to stop the chaos, but you can't defeat Democrat chaos with Republican chaos, and that's what Donald Trump gives us," she added in the most recent debate.
It's an approach embraced by other challengers like Ron DeSantis, who hope even Trump fans will let political pragmatism overcome their allegiance.
But with just weeks to go until the first votes are cast, they're running out of time to turn lingering Trump-voter doubts into an abrupt about-face, even if Haley appears to be making some headway in New Hampshire.
(Disclosure: a close relative of mine works for the Haley campaign.)