TWENTY MINUTES INTO THE FUTURE: John Podhoretz: My Nikki Haley Theory.

But what will Republicans have to say if he goes down to defeat on November 5, 2024? Will they buy his sore-loser conspiracy theory #2 that the election was stolen from him? Or will they finally say they’ve had enough of the winning—which is to say, the losing?

And if enough of them do—and right now, judging from the three early primary contests, somewhere between nearly 4 out of 10 Republicans believe this already—won’t they finally, finally, finally have to admit that, if they don’t want Democrats running everything for all time, they will have to give up on the standard-bearer who, like the substitute baton-holder from the Delta House ranks in front of the Faber College Marching Band during the parade at the end of National Lampoon’s Animal House, has four times running led the world’s oldest political party down a blind alley into a brick wall?

The person who can say “I told you so” in that case, and simultaneously offer a new path to the future, will be Nikki Haley. Maybe she can’t be the nominee in 2028. Maybe the GOP base will decide she’s just a raven-headed Liz Cheney and demonize her and drive her out. Could happen. But if Trump is not president on January 20, 2025, the party will be in pieces and Haley will be the most famous Republican to have delivered the warning. So my theory is that this is what she’s running to be.

Or, choose your adventure! Nikki Haley Fades to Irrelevance. It’s the self-immolation of once-promising career.