“Congratulations to Nikki Haley for following President Trump’s lead and doing a CNN town hall. Ron DeSanctimonious is too chicken to ever do something like this.” — @TrumpWarRoom
Here, in microcosm, is the dysfunction plaguing the GOP presidential field, thanks to the Trumpian captivity.
As with most Trumpian pronouncements, there’s no policy and no principle to be found — other than the insinuation that Trump is courageous and his opponents are cowards. Ron DeSantis gets the text: He’s “chicken”; Haley the subtext: She’s simply following the Alpha Dog’s “lead.”
For what it’s worth, the only thing that Haley’s Sunday night CNN town hall had in common with Trump’s performance last month is that they were on the same network. Haley was generally polite, polished and coherent.
It’s all so exhaustingly childish, made all the more exhausting because it works.