Nikki Haley Is Own Exhibit A

Today, I noticed that Nikki Haley, the last Republican I was able to support for President, has warned centrist Democrats that they should stand up to Zohran Mamdani and other socialists in their party.

She should know was my first thought upon seeing headline and byline together.

Haley accurately enough describes what is going on the Democratic Party:

Joe Biden also proved that giving in to socialist demands hurts the people it purports to help: His multitrillion-dollar spending binge spiked inflation to its highest levels in four decades, while taking the national debt to a staggering $36 trillion.

If Mamdani wins and enacts even a portion of his agenda, New Yorkers will soon pay the price.

But the rest of America won't be far behind. Democrats will move even further to the left, in a kind of socialist bidding war.

Today, it's tax the rich; tomorrow it will be abolish the rich (Mamdani has already said there should be no billionaires).

Today, it's rent control; tomorrow, it will be free rent and canceling mortgage debt.

Even if Mamdani loses, I don't see Democrats pulling themselves out of this socialist spiral.

Hochul said when endorsing Mamdani that she shares his desire for affordability, but if supposed moderates think socialism is the answer, then the Democratic Party is truly lost. [bold added]

So far, so good, but her next sentence?

The American people's only hope is for Republicans to offer a real alternative.

Not only has that ship already sailed, but it's not even true: Parties (obviously!) can change and history is littered with parties coming and going in the American two-party system.

Furthermore this is coming from someone who, having endorsed Donald Trump, is guilty of the very sin she warns against.

Many of Trump's policies -- like high taxes ("tariffs") and having government take stakes in private companies -- are closer to textbook socialism than anything the Democrats have done in recent memory, and his taxing and spending have been even worse than Biden's. Worse, her fellow Republicans in Congress have shown zero inclination to oppose any of this.

Haley's reward for kissing the ring? A Republican Party that looks even more lost than she projects the Democrats becoming, not to mention zero political future for her in the party she and too many others ceded to Trump.

While perhaps this part of the message will be apparent to some moderate Democrats, Haley would have done much more good by acknowledging her own failings and offering those as an object lesson that could, perhaps, help the Democrats (or some of them) save themselves and become the alternative to tyranny that America desperately needs.

-- CAV