Nikki Haley and I haven’t got quite a lot of frequent floor, belief-wise. I may skip invading Mexico. I am not into her concept of elevating the age for social safety. I cringe at nearly the whole lot she’s ever stated on social politics, from cowing to stress to swear that America shouldn’t be “a racist nation” to providing that she thinks Florida’s Do not Say Homosexual regulation does not go far sufficient. (What would you like, Nikki—Do not Suppose Homosexual?)

And but, over the course of the final a number of weeks, I have been glued to Haley’s marketing campaign. All day yesterday, I discovered myself scrolling obsessively by information out of New Hampshire, combing for indications that Haley would possibly pull it out. When the returns had been coming in, I used to be rapt, authentically unhappy when the race was referred to as. Shhh! I went, to my youngsters, when Haley got here onstage to talk. However I additionally did not inform them to pay attention. I did not need them latching on to her concepts.

That second encapsulates my advanced emotions round Nikki Haley. I am unable to play off my rooting for her as purely strategic. I am unable to chalk it as much as the concept that we’d all be safer with Trump off the poll. It goes deeper. I did not simply need her to beat Trump, final night time. I wished her to win. I do not need her to be president, however I would like extra folks to need her to be president. Does that make sense? No, I do know it doesn’t. I’m now a kind of voters on the road who, after they describe their convoluted voting ideas on cable information, make you need to throw your sandwich on the TV.

However with Haley, I typically glimpse the sensation males have had for 200 years: I relate to her. Not when she exhibits up someplace and says that “God is so good,” as she did final night time after the race was referred to as in Trump’s favor. If I ever opened with that, my pals would assume I had a concussion. However I really feel her just-get-it-done perspective, admire that she’s a mother, can really feel in my jaw the way in which she held her face patiently, final night time, as her personal supporters interrupted her. I admired the way in which she made her concession sound like a victory speech. I liked when she stated, in a brilliantly exact chord of bless his coronary heart, “I wanna congratulate Donald Trump on his victory tonight… He earned that.” Her tone was the identical one I exploit once I inform my youngsters they made these cupcakes, they labored so onerous! Haley’s vibe on that stage was one I feel most ladies acknowledge: That is tremendous, I’ll do that speech, however my thoughts is shifting to to-dos for tomorrow, and the remainder of 2024, and my five-year plan. In my coronary heart, I imagine she went to mattress final night time decided to lookup some self-care serums, however ended up deciding the two a.m. hour was higher spent returning emails.