Poor Nikki, Poor Us

Two possible ways of looking at New Hampshire’s vote:

A: Face it, Nikki Haley is toast. No reason for her to continue running.

B: … Except that she’s the only thing saving us from a full year of just Trump vs. Biden.

Of course, the general election in November is beyond critical. Joe Biden’s backers are happy to list his presidential achievements at every opportunity. (“Big infrastructure program” tends to work best.) And he’s a man of fine character. But face it, you’d rather not start reliving the 2020 campaign already.

Right now, we turn our attention to the South Carolina Republican primary — at least there’s going to be one. “New Hampshire is first in the nation. It is not the last in the nation,” Haley told her supporters after she came in, well, second, in her one-on-one race against Donald Trump.

Obviously, she had to spin positive. “What a great night,” she said — um, claimed — as Trump beat her by about 11 percentage points in a state with one of the most moderate, independent Republican parties in the country. Haley was upbeat, but the members of the Republican elite who had supported her were grabbing onto life preservers and preparing to jump her sinking ship.

Haley’s even been ditched by Tim Scott — the guy she appointed to the Senate when she was governor of South Carolina. Scott did at least provide us with one interesting topic on primary night. He’d posted pictures that allowed the world to see him kneeling on a beach, proposing to his girlfriend, in the presence, apparently, of a supportive photographer.

The timing, at the very least, was awkward. Love or attention-grabbing? I don’t actually care, but I am happy to continue discussing. Anything but the inevitability of Trump vs. Biden.