Can neocon Nikki stem the tide? She should not be underestimated. With her vigorous assertion of American leadership abroad, Haley is the Republican candidate most congenial to neocons such as Bill Kristol, not to mention much of the Republican establishment. Now that Christie has bowed out, the hope is that Haley can defeat Trump in New Hampshire, then deliver a stinging rebuff in her home state of South Carolina. Just because it’s never happened in the past doesn’t mean that it cannot happen now. Much of Trump’s rise to high office has been predicated on the nimbus of success. Haley, a shrewd political operator who enjoys the financial largesse of the Koch network, may surprise her detractors. The next month will show whether she can smoke out Trump.

[Meh. DeSantis at least speaks to the populist Right, even if he can’t get their attention for all of Trump’s glamour. The Republican “establishment” has been losing elections since 2008, even when the party was less divided. The Tea Party bailed out the GOP in 2010, but even their alliance with the ‘neocon’/establishment faction couldn’t beat Democrats in 2012. Haley is not going to derail Trump with an insider play. To think otherwise is to misread the currents of politics in both parties that have swirled clearly for the past decade now. — Ed]