Nikki Haley played it safe with Trump — now she’s paying the price

Within the last two days, GOP presidential hopeful former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has begun to criticize Donald Trump — casting herself as the alternative to his candidacy for Republican voters. However, if she really wanted to be the Trump alternative in this race, she would’ve criticized him from the beginning rather than just two days before the New Hampshire primary.

What’s more, Trump’s crazy and unhinged speech following his Granite State win proves exactly why positioning herself as the Trump alternative candidate would’ve been a winning tactic that could’ve changed the course of this entire primary.

Momentum was on Haley’s side following the first debate where she set herself apart based upon her experience and her ability to drown out the bluster on the stage. Had she dished out a criticism or two of Trump during that debate, she could’ve started getting Never Trump support coalescing around her. But the only one on that stage willing to go toe-to-toe with Trump was former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and he admonished his rivals for not taking Trump on and instead propping up his candidacy and providing him with a pathway to the nomination.

Many of us who are a part of the original “Never Trump” crew that have been happily blacklisted from the GOP were hopeful about Christie’s candidacy given his desire to prevent Trump from ever stepping foot again in the Oval Office. His championing of the Constitution and calling out Trump’s erratic, illegal and despotic ways were something to be admired. As his campaign never gained steam, Haley could’ve been the natural one to carry the torch.

Even though she won the endorsement of New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R), a public denouncer of Trump and someone who has been the target of Trump’s criticisms, she still played it safe and hoped others would carry the “Trump-alternative” messaging for her rather than taking Trump on head-to-head.

Politics is always a game of could’ve, would’ve, should’ve but the stakes were too high this primary cycle to leave anything to chance knowing that Trump could become the GOP nominee despite being embattled.

Haley’s appeal to independent voters and her ability to cut through a crowded primary field should’ve been taken more seriously by her own team, and they should’ve capitalized on it by pivoting her messaging to take Trump on. Trump recognized he had to attack her over the last month or so as her campaign took off, providing an opportunity to Haley to pivot.

Now she appears to have recognized her grave mistake. Since her second-place finish in the New Hampshire primary she’s put her foot on the gas by way of anti-Trump rhetoric trying to solidify her place as the candidate to coalesce around to prevent a Trump coronation. But now, it’s too little too late for her campaign and the writing is on the wall that Trump will be the GOP nominee.

For anyone hoping for a Trump alternative within the Republican Party, that ship has sailed. While some in pundit land might suggest otherwise, it’s clear that GOP alignment around Trump began Wednesday. My focus is now on the general election and defeating Trump by supporting President Biden.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but had Haley done this from the beginning, her candidacy as the Trump alternative would’ve been viable and made the case for a two-person GOP primary. Now, she’s in the position that if she doesn’t win in her home state of South Carolina her campaign is done.

Ashley Pratte Oates, an independent and a former Republican, is a communications strategist, political commentator, and a board member of Republican Women for Progress. You can follow her on Twitter @AshPratte.