Irish Examiner view: Is Haley too late saddling up for Republican race?

With Florida governor Ron DeSantis dropping out, it's now a two-horse race

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley during a campaign stop in Seabrook, New Hampshire, in Seabrook. Picture: Matt Rourke/AP

Be careful what you wish for. Last week before the Iowa caucuses, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said the campaign was “a two-person race” between herself and Donald Trump for the nomination to stand for November’s election.

On Sunday, her presumptive assertion became reality when Florida governor Ron DeSantis withdrew from the race, leaving Trump and Haley as the only two remaining just prior to today’s primary in New Hampshire.

For months now, and as she gained traction in the battle to usurp Trump, it has been Haley’s view, and that of a coalition of anti-Trump Republicans, that the only way to beat the former president was in a one-on-one contest that allowed her to consolidate party support against him.

The endorsement of high-powered and deep-pocketed backers such as the Koch brothers gave Haley a credibility within the party that she was capable of mounting a successful challenge to the seemingly unstoppable Trump machine.

As of right now, that appears to have been wishful thinking because it is treacherous running against a brawling opponent such as Trump and the unconventional machine he heads up, which involves him avoiding televised debates, only giving interviews to ‘friendly’ media, treating ‘unfriendly’ media with aggressive disdain and treating other candidates to nothing other than contemptuous daggers.

We noted in these pages on Saturday that the brickbats had only started flying between the Republicans standing in the primaries and it was notable that Haley had finally taken the gloves off in her fight with Trump and given voice to her genuine concerns about his fitness for office.

In New Hampshire, however, it appears this has been a case of too little, too late and frustrated anti-Trumpers within the party felt Haley’s renewed vigour would be inadequate to persuade flinty locals to back her cause.

They feel that the party faithful — and not just those aligned with Trump — had not been persuaded by the former governor of North Carolina — and UN ambassador in Trump’s last administration — to come out in the numbers necessary to give her ongoing traction. In other words, she had not got mouthy enough, quickly enough.

That being so, it is no surprise that Haley failed to inspire and motivate unaffiliated party members to row in behind her campaign and back her cause.

She wanted a two-horse race and got it — that may not be enough to stop the Trump rollercoaster.

Storm Isha a 'new normal'

It appears to be a fact of life these days that the country will be left to clean up the mess after yet another withering storm.

So it was yesterday, as airports, airlines, transport companies, local councils, electricity suppliers, road users, schools, shops, and industries were left to cope with the aftermath of Storm Isha and gird their loins for further disruption from today, thanks to Storm Jocelyn — the 10th named storm that will have hit Ireland this winter.

With emergency services having been at full throttle since early Sunday — clearing up downed trees and poles, along with coping with damaged building and vehicles — it now appears they will have to ready themselves again.

A peak of 235,000 customers were left without electricity due to Storm Isha — although that figure had been significantly pared back by last night — while as many as 180 flights were cancelled, and local authorities and emergency services had to deal with any amount of material carnage.

Ours has been a winter of climatic discontent thus far and the immediate forecast is that it will not get any better any time soon, so Ireland — along with many other places in the world — is going to have to become accustomed to what is, effectively, a new normal.

There are also concerns that many damaged electricity lines, poles, and sub-stations may not be able to withstand a second storm.

We may marvel at the tenacity, determination, and courage of our emergency workers — but it appears we will have to admire their hard work, humanity, and skill many more times before this season of foul weather is over.

Cracks start to appear

As the families of Hamas hostages yesterday stormed a session of the Israeli Knesset demanding government action to release their loved ones from captivity, to witness their anger and desperation only highlighted their powerlessness in the face of an administration battling its own demons in pursuit of victory in Gaza.

Those demons include increasing internal divisions within Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration over the increasingly controversial way it is processing the conflict and “selling illusions” that the more than 100 remaining hostages will be freed as a result of the ongoing ground assault.

Chief among the Israeli war cabinet dissenters is an opposition minister without portfolio, retired general Gadi Eisenkot, a former chief of staff of the Israeli Defence Forces. His son was killed in the conflict in December. Last weekend, he slammed Netanyahu’s tactics and said it was impossible to bring the hostages home without doing a deal with Hamas.

This hint of division within Netanyahu’s government, suggesting its twin aims of destroying Hamas and successfully bringing the hostages home are incompatible, is bad news for those seeking the Israelis to stop the killing of civilians, more than 25,000 of whom have already perished.

For US president Joe Biden and the many global leaders, including our own Taoiseach and Tánaiste, who have been calling for Israeli restraint and the establishment of a twin- state system in the region, Netanyahu’s bullishness in refusing either has been a huge concern.

But with cracks seemingly appearing in the Israeli cabinet, there might just be signs that the hitherto not-for-turning administration is facing its own moment of truth.