Beauty and the Beast: Nikki Haley is Teaching Trump About Politics in South Carolina

By Thomas Anderson

Modern American politics is multi-layered like a peacock tail, as the central power of the White House is festooned from every angle by a beautiful tapestry of powerful interests feathered within a cavorting dance where all sides shift and sway as an ocean of money and power hang teetering in the background.  It is within this byzantine dance of Washington DC that regional power players can bask in the limelight of White House politics leveraging deals and partnerships that can cross party lines as well as affect international commerce and trade.

The nasty politics of gridlock, investigations, and battles over social issues make political campaigns and primary elections the fertile ground necessary for deal-making that allows the nation to move forward in a virtuous cycle of growth and collaboration during a time when both are rare in Washington DC.  It’s during this pivotal time Presidential candidates must reach out and bargain for support from regional-level players usually ignored on the national or international stage.   South Carolina’s time to shine within the peacock’s glorious tail has arrived and what they have to offer as a state is on display in all of its magnificent glory, led by their former beauty queen and governor- Nikki Haley. 

South Carolina, because Nikki Haley announced she would continue her run for President, could score multiple concessions and deals for the powerful interests in their state from BOTH parties while simultaneously walking away with the VP slot in a Trump administration.  Nikki Haley, former governor and beauty queen contestant for the Palmetto State, knew why she needed to hang on to her Presidential aspirations.  Maybe it was her upbringing as a minority in a viscously racist state that gave her the grit and courage to stand strong under the MAGA machine attacks in order to do the right thing:  represent her state and their interests on the greatest of stages so that her state can win during a time when wins are hard to come by.  That same upbringing may have also blessed her with the ability to see opportunity when most would only see political loss in South Carolina.