Why this South Carolina Democrat will vote for Nikki Haley in the primary

As a South Carolina Democrat, I preface all this by saying I never voted for Nikki Haley before — and for good reason. She refused to expand Medicaid and denied more than 300,000 South Carolinians medical insurance. Her confusion over the cause of the Civil War is no surprise given that she’s consorted with neo-Confederates for years. Even the one thing she is praised for, taking down the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state capitol and grounds, she did only after nine Black churchgoers were murdered by a white supremacist. Previously, out of political convenience, she supported keeping the Confederate flag.

In normal political times, her actions would be disqualifying — but these are not normal times and her opponent, former President Trump, is no ordinary politician. In South Carolina’s open primary, Haley has my vote.

Benjamin Franklin’s quote “a republic, if you can keep it” has taken on a new meaning in the second coming of Trump. In his first term, Trump’s compulsions toward corruption and anti-democratic ideals were tempered by his inexperience and a small cadre of rational Americans — Rex Tillerson, Jim Mattis and John Kelly — who dissuaded him from his worst impulses. In a second Trump term, no such people will surround Trump. 

There is no need to speculate what Trump would do in a second term. He has already said he would sign an executive order firing tens of thousands of civilian federal employees and replace them with cronies. We know that he wanted to use the Army and National Guard to seize voting machines, crush protesters and occupy the streets of American cities in 2020. He would create a private army of 250,000 or more to sweep through the country to find and deport migrants and set up large internment camps in Texas for them. Trump has already called for the execution of his own chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the suspension of the Constitution — and that’s just the start.

Most critically, though, a reelected Trump will be an emboldened Trump. He has suggested in the past that he needed more than two terms as president. What if he wants more time? What if, after having been dictator for a day, he demands more days to dictate over us? What if, after a rigorous election, a Democrat wins in 2028? Are we to expect Trump to transition power peacefully? And if Trump says he wants to remain in power, who will stand up to him? Not this GOP. 

But even if Trump were to leave peacefully, which is no guarantee, what if he merely installs one of his children as president, just as he is now installing his daughter-in-law as head of the Republican National Committee? The threat to our democracy is not just that Trump may never leave. The threat is that we become an illiberal democracy in the mold of Viktor Orban’s Hungary, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey or, more distressingly, Southern state governments for the near-century after the end of Reconstruction. In illiberal democracies, voting and constitutional rights are a facade, so long as selective populism reigns and the rights of the “undesirable” are stifled.

In this light, stopping Trump and voting for Haley is an expression of my belief in this country as it is now, and not what Trump hopes to make it. It’s an expression of belief in the power of our democracy, however imperfect, and maintaining our constitutional form of government uninterrupted. 

Many Democrats prefer Trump as the GOP nominee because they believe him easier to beat. But this is a fool’s errand, one tried and failed in 2016. It’s certainly my hope that Biden can beat either Haley or Trump in November, but both are currently beating Biden in most polling. A lot can improve between now and November to change that dynamic, but conversely a lot can get worse, too. Democracy should not be up for debate and certainly not for a gamble. So the question every Democrat must ask themselves is whom they would rather Biden lose to, rather than whom could Biden beat. 

Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said Haley and Trump are both fruit from the same MAGA tree. That may be true, and I am fully aware that Haley, being who she is, will likely endorse and enable Trump even after all that’s passed between them. She will do so for the same reason all Republicans do: the mistaken assumption that Trump will pass them the torch and they somehow can unring the bell of authoritarianism later. That too is a fool’s errand. But Haley, as the leader of her party and not a mere sycophant, would be a repudiation of Trump. 

The central issue of 2024 is not abortion or gun control or immigration. The central issue is whether we will even have an election in 2028. Without democracy, there is no space to debate abortion, gun control, civil rights or education policies. Without democracy, might makes right and cults of personality reign. 

Thus, I will vote for Haley, flaws and all. She is committed to leaving office, defeated or otherwise, and that’s enough. 

Christopher Richardson is a former U.S. diplomat who served in Nigeria, Nicaragua, Pakistan and Spain from 2011 until 2018.