World
Haley’s campaign a giant step for GOP women, but bigger still for Trump
With polls showing Nikki Haley trailing Donald Trump by a wide margin heading into this weekend’s South Carolina Republican primary, many political analysts characterise the vote as Haley’s last stand in her quixotic bid to win the party’s 2024 presidential nomination.
Regardless of the result, however, scholars have said that Haley’s campaign is a historic one. By outdistancing a field dominated by men to effectively challenge the immensely popular Trump, she has moved women one step closer to political parity in electoral politics.
Polls indicate that Trump is leading Haley by as many as 36 percentage points heading into Saturday’s South Carolina primary, even though Haley is a native and former governor of the Palmetto State. And while winning the South Carolina primary would open the door for Trump to capture the party’s nomination outright when 15 states hold their primaries simultaneously next month, Haley’s campaign has, at least in theory, charted a path to remain in the race until Super Tuesday, which could give the former United Nations ambassador an advantage in the 2028 presidential ballot.
Haley, for her part, has pledged to remain in the race despite the odds. Speaking at her alma mater, Clemson University, on Tuesday, she said, “Some of you — perhaps a few of you in the media — came here today to see if I’m dropping out of the race,” she said. “Well, I’m not. Far from it.”
Haley’s emergence as the last woman standing in what was a crowded race stands in stark contrast to candidates like former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and ex-Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, who styled themselves as “anti-Trump” candidates. Conversely, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis hewed close to Trump in both style and substance before dropping out in January, after failing to distinguish himself from the frontrunner and presumptive nominee.
Haley, on the other hand, has staked out a middle ground, portraying herself as a would-be “accountant” in the White House, and consequently a calming alternative to Trump’s four years of “chaos”.
Initially circumspect in her criticism, Haley has turned up the heat as the GOP field has narrowed, attacking Trump’s efforts to insert loyalists in the Republican National Convention, highlighting his rising stack of legal troubles, and taking more direct aim at Trump’s “insecurity” and temper tantrums.
Her policy proposals, however, are not substantively different from her former boss, and as recently as this month, Haley told reporters in South Carolina that her campaign is not an “anti-Trump movement”, according to the Washington Post.
Part of Haley’s strategy is to walk a tightrope when it comes to addressing her gender and Indian ancestry in a modern Republican party that is slow to change, Kelly Dittmar, director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, told Al Jazeera.
For instance, Dittmar said that Haley has, in many ways, leaned into her role as the rare woman in a Republican presidential race, but she has not necessarily portrayed gender as a “point of merit”, underscoring the conservative “idea that somehow hearing about gender and racial identity is anti-meritocratic … and [Republicans] don’t play into identity politics.”
“If you go back to Hillary Clinton in 2016, she used to say, ‘I’m not asking you to vote for me because I’m a woman, I’m asking you to vote for me on the merits. But one of those merits is I’m a woman,’” Dittmar said.
In contrast, Haley has used gendered imagery to boost “masculine credentials” and an image of male toughness that still resonates in the party, repeatedly referring to her high-heeled shoes as “ammunition”. In the advertisement launching her campaign, she proclaimed, “When you kick back, it hurts them more if you’re wearing heels.”
Moreover, on the issue of race, Haley has tacked to the right, consistent with Trump’s own views, sparking controversy by failing to cite slavery as a reason for the US Civil War. And she has repeated a regular Republican line, most recently in an interview in late January. “I don’t think America’s racist,” she said. “I think we have racism in America.”
A historical benchmark
In turn, Trump’s attacks on Haley suggest that there remains a tolerance – if not appetite – for racism and sexism among his supporters, Dittmar said. In January, Trump referred to Haley as “birdbrained” and “not presidential timber”.
Trump has amplified the conspiracy that Haley, who is of Indian descent, was not born in the US, redolent of a tactic known as “birtherism” which he championed during Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, falsely alleging that the nation’s first African American president was born in Kenya, and was therefore ineligible to run for president.
The former president has also referred to Haley as “Nimbra”, an apparent debasement of her first name, Nimarata (Nikki, the name she uses, is her middle name).
Many have said that Trump’s remarks are hardly surprising for a candidate who had previously bragged about sexually assaulting women, derided his 2016 Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton as a “nasty woman” who did not look presidential and suggested in 2015 that a female debate moderator had “blood coming out of her whatever”.
While such attacks have come to be seen as part and parcel of a Trump campaign, Dittmar noted that studies have regularly indicated high measures of “hostile sexism” and “racial resentment” among his supporters.
“It is not surprising that Trump would use sexist or racist language or strategies, because that’s actually been beneficial for him to mobilise a lot of these voters,” Dittmar told Al Jazeera. “[Nikki Haley] brings that out, but perhaps to his advantage, at least among his base”.
Haley has fought back, launching the National Women for Nikki Coalition, a 50-state effort that many see as a last-ditch effort to energise the voting bloc.
And while it may ultimately be a matter of too little, too late, Haley’s staying power in the race represents a historical benchmark for a political party that has traditionally been dominated by white men. And both voters, donors and the media appear to hold her in much higher regard than Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and self-proclaimed “hockey mom” who was often ridiculed by stand-up comedians and late-night talk show hosts.
“It is notable to recognise and to give Haley credit for pushing the envelope on the Republican side for at least more seriously taking a woman candidate as a potential nominee,” Dittmar said.
“In the modern context, she will have gotten farther than any other Republican woman, and I do think that that’s something worth pointing out, regardless of what happens.”
Electoral vulnerabilities
While a resounding defeat in South Carolina seems likely, Haley’s race has, if nothing else, taken the temperature of the modern Republican Party and the existential crisis represented by Trump’s enduring hold, according to politics watchers.
Perhaps most illuminating during Haley’s run has been just how difficult it has been for Haley – or any of the now departed Republican candidates – to find any purchase in attacks on Trump, a heterodox politician who has continued to polarise members of the party.
In 2020, a movement against Trump largely coalesced under the “Never Trump” banner. While that effort has been less vocal this election cycle, there is a “minority, but a significant kind of disaffected Republican voter still looking for an alternative to Trump,” according to Aaron Kall, an elections expert at the University of Michigan.
“That shows that if Trump is the nominee, which is still likely, that he does have some general election vulnerabilities,” he said.
He pointed to several prominent donors who have continued to provide the funds Haley needs to stay in the race, many hailing from the more traditional conservative old guard of the Republican Party. Haley’s campaign said she raised $16.5m in January – nearly a third of the $42m in campaign cash raised by Trump last month – which Haley described as her largest monthly haul since entering the race.
Before the South Carolina primary, Haley also attended a Texas fundraiser co-hosted by real estate magnate Harlan Crow and oil tycoon Ray Lee Hunt, among others, according to Fortune magazine.
Enduring hold
Some have viewed Haley’s persistence as an effort to position herself as the natural successor to Trump in the event that he is unable to be the party’s nominee.
Trump is the first candidate in US history to face one criminal indictment – let alone four – during his campaign, creating an unprecedented situation that could potentially find the former president behind bars come November, raising the question of electability.
“We have empirical evidence to show that MAGA [Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement] has been dwindling in size, not growing in influence in the party,” Rina Shah, a political strategist, told Al Jazeera.
She pointed to the 2022 midterm elections in which Trump-endorsed candidates underperformed, resulting in a predicted red wave turning into a ripple.
Shah said she believes Haley’s losses in Iowa and New Hampshire, and recent polls, have not reflected the extent to which Trump has turned off some segments of the Republican Party, particularly suburban women.
“The general election of 2024 is going to be determined by independently minded voters in swing states,” Shah told Al Al Jazeera. “That is who I believe Trump cannot bring in in this election because he lost them in 2020 in a big way.”
Still, the former president has demonstrated an ability to mobilise his enthusiastic base, something that his Democratic opponent, President Joe Biden, has not been able to do so far this election season. The irony, Shah said, is that while Haley’s campaign has raised the bar for women running for high political office, it has paradoxically shown that Trump is a political juggernaut.
Even when Trump is “hardly campaigning, when he’s under all these legal challenges”, Shah pointed out that “his base’s loyalty to him is just so much deeper than we have seen with other candidates”.
In sum, Haley’s run has shown the Republican Party “is still a cult of personality” – for Trump.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Denise Powell won the Democratic primary in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District on Wednesday in a contest focused on the state’s “blue dot” status in presidential elections.
The Omaha-area district, where Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon is retiring, is one of Democrats’ biggest targets this midterm season. It’s also a national focus every four years in presidential contests because Nebraska is one of just two states that splits its electoral votes. The 2nd District has gone to Democratic presidential candidates three out of five times since 2008 — a “blue dot” in an otherwise sea of red.
Powell, a political activist, defeated state Sen. John Cavanaugh and several other candidates in the Democratic primary. She and Cavanaugh were in a tight race that could not be called Tuesday.
Powell will face Brinker Harding, an Omaha City Council member endorsed by President Donald Trump. He ran unopposed in Tuesday’s GOP primary.
“This country and Nebraska are worth fighting for — and I’m ready to spend the next six months working for every vote and sharing my vision for Nebraska so we can finally have a representative in Congress who will serve us,” Powell said in a statement. “It’s time to be brave.”
Powell led Cavanaugh by 2.1 percentage points, or 1,080 votes, out of more than 51,000 votes counted.
AP called the race after Douglas County election officials said there were only 5,125 outstanding mail-in ballots in the Democratic primary, and a total of 830 provisional ballots from all political parties. Even if all those ballots are counted in the Democratic primary, Cavanaugh would have to win them by about 18 percentage points over Powell to close the gap, a margin he didn’t come close to achieving in any of the five vote updates provided by Douglas County so far. Cavanaugh trailed in all three counties in the district, though Douglas accounted for about 93% of the votes.
The matchup between Powell and Harding is expected to be among this fall’s most competitive House races, as Democrats try to win control of the chamber for the second half of Trump’s term.
The 2nd District is one of just three districts in the country that supported Democrat Kamala Harris for president in 2024 while also electing a Republican representative. Trump won the district in 2016, and the retiring Bacon, who has clashed with Trump, has held the House seat for five terms.
The Nebraska GOP said in a statement Wednesday that Republicans are ready to fight back against a “radical left” that has poured money into the state.
“The left wants Nebraska, and we are going to make sure they don’t get it,” said NEGOP Chairman Mary Jane Truemper.
Powell, who is Latina, co-founded Women Who Run Nebraska, a political action committee that supports progressive female candidates, and she has a decade of Democratic political activism. She had the backing of EMILY’s List and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ campaign operation.
Powell has never held office but said her deep connections have helped her with independents and third-party voters, who make up nearly 30% of the district’s electorate.
Some Democratic critics argued that a Cavanaugh primary victory would have jeopardized the district’s “blue dot” status because he’d be leaving his valuable state legislative seat, making it easier for Republicans in the Nebraska Legislature to change the law that allows the state to split its electoral votes.
___
Peoples reported from New York.
World
Iran says its small subs deployed to Strait of Hormuz as expert explains threat: ‘Vulnerable to detection’
US tightens Iran blockade in Strait of Hormuz as Trump warns to shoot boats
Fox News national correspondent Bryan Llenas discusses Middle East tensions and U.S. policy towards Iran. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt details a ceasefire extension for Iran’s regime. Bryan Llenas reports on U.S. efforts to clear the Strait of Hormuz of Iranian mines. Former Secretary of the Navy Kenneth Braithwaite emphasizes America’s naval power and its importance for global commerce and preventing conflict in the Gulf.
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Iran says it has deployed small submarines to act as an “invisible guardian” of the Strait of Hormuz amid a series of rejected peace deals between Tehran and the U.S., according to reports.
The deployment claim came as analysts said that although the Iranian Ghadir-class mini-subs could threaten U.S. naval forces, the vessels’ limited range, firepower and endurance would blunt any real strategic impact.
The submarine deployment was highlighted by Bloomberg and first reported by the semi-official Tasnim News Agency.
Rear Admiral Shahram Irani, commander of Iran’s navy, said that his forces deployed its light submarine, referred to as the “dolphins of the Persian Gulf,” according to the Iranian state media outlet.
IRAN TURNS TO PUTIN AS US TALKS COLLAPSE, HORMUZ STANDOFF THREATENS GLOBAL OIL FLOW
Iran claims that it has deployed small submarines to act as an “invisible guardian” of the Strait of Hormuz. (Vahid Reza Alaei / AFP via Getty Images, File)
It also comes as Tehran seeks to reinforce its control over the strait, now defining it as a far larger zone, Reuters reported.
“Time would be limited, probably a couple of days at the most,” defense analyst Tom Shugart told Fox News Digital about the Iranian vessel deployment.
The retired U.S. Navy submarine warfare officer also said the small diesel-electric submarines face fundamental operational constraints.
IRAN HOLDS WORLD ENERGY HOSTAGE WITH ‘NIGHTMARE’ STRAIT OF HORMUZ SEA MINES, FORMER CENTCOM OFFICIAL WARNS
U.S. Marines aboard USS New Orleans (LPD 18) stand watch in the Arabian Sea during naval blockade operations against Iran. (U.S. Central Command)
“If they run their diesel engines to snorkel and recharge batteries, that could generate sound that could be detected,” Shugart said.
“Their snorkel mast projecting from the water could be detected by radars on patrol aircraft or helicopters,” Shugart added.
The submarines are said to be designed for shallow waters like the Strait of Hormuz and can operate quietly for limited periods on battery power.
“While they may be able to sit on the bottom for a while and operate somewhat quietly on their batteries for a while, they have no air-independent propulsion system (AIP) like more modern diesel-electric submarines,” Shugart said before adding that they’ll, “eventually have to come up and snorkel. This will make them more vulnerable to detection and destruction.”
INSIDE IRAN’S MILITARY: MISSILES, MILITIAS AND A FORCE BUILT FOR SURVIVAL
A navy vessel sails in the Strait of Hormuz. (Sahar Al Attar / AFP via Getty Images)
The IRGC Navy is said to be the sole operator of this class of submarine, all of which serve in the Southern Fleet.
“Any remaining Ghadirs, if they exist and are actually deployed, may be able to lay mines and may be able to threaten merchant ships,” Shugart warned.
“But I don’t see them as a serious threat to U.S. Navy warships — and certainly not to U.S. submarines,” he said.
“But I can say for sure that I wouldn’t want to go out on one in the current environment.”
HORMUZ CHOKE POINT PERSISTS AS IRAN HALTS OIL TRAFFIC DESPITE TRUMP CEASEFIRE
The U.S. Navy confirmed May 10 that a U.S. Navy Ohio-class nuclear-armed submarine had arrived in Gibraltar.
“The port visit demonstrates U.S. capability, flexibility and continuing commitment to its NATO allies,” U.S. Sixth Fleet Public Affairs said in a statement.
“Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines are undetectable launch platforms for submarine-launched ballistic missiles, providing the U.S. with its most survivable leg of the nuclear triad,” it added.
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Meanwhile, Shugart’s remarks came as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed, with commercial tanker traffic largely choked off amid ongoing military activity and the continued U.S. blockade of Iranian ports.
The United Arab Emirates and South Korea reported new strikes on stranded vessels Wednesday, while the IRGC increased its fast-attack craft activity, according to reports.
President Donald Trump has maintained Iran’s navy is “completely obliterated.”
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
India is hosting a meeting of foreign ministers from BRICS nations on May 14-15 in a precursor to the 18th BRICS summit, which New Delhi will host in September. The meeting, which starts on Thursday morning, coincides with United States President Donald Trump’s three-day visit to Beijing for a state visit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Here is more about the foreign ministers’ meeting, who is attending and why it matters.
What is BRICS?
BRICS is a grouping of major emerging economies seeking to coordinate security and economic policy in order to amplify the demands of the Global South at international organisations and on issues where the West has traditionally dominated economically and politically.
The acronym stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The organisation was called BRIC in its initial form – Brazil, Russia, India and China – when its foreign ministers began meeting in 2006, and when it held its first summit in 2009. It became BRICS when South Africa joined in 2010.
In 2023, BRICS extended invitations to Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates after these countries applied for membership. Saudi Arabia has yet to formally join, but the others have. An invitation was also extended to Argentina, but was turned down as President Javier Milei, elected in December 2023, had campaigned on the promise of bolstering ties with the West.
Indonesia joined the group in January 2025, after its membership was approved during the summit in 2023 in Johannesburg.
The group sets priorities and holds discussions at an annual summit, which members take turns hosting. Last year, Brazil hosted the BRICS meeting and, in 2024, Russia hosted the annual meeting. This year, it is India’s turn to host.
This week’s meeting in New Delhi will bring together the foreign ministers of BRICS countries, who are expected to discuss economic cooperation and coordinate their positions on key global issues.
When and where is the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting?
The BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting, held to prepare for the 18th BRICS summit in September, will take place on Thursday, May 14, and Friday, May 15, in New Delhi, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said on Tuesday.
On Thursday, foreign ministers are expected to arrive at 10:00am (04:30 GMT), and sessions are expected to take place throughout the day, concluding with a dinner at 7pm (01:30 GMT).
On Friday, one session is expected to take place, starting at 10:00am (04:30 GMT).
All of the meetings except one will take place in Bharat Mandapam, an exhibition hall and convention centre located close to the Supreme Court of India.
On Thursday at 1pm (07:30 GMT), Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join a joint conference call with the visiting leaders from Seva Teerth, a new administrative complex that serves as the official headquarters of the prime minister’s office.
Who is attending the meeting?
Foreign ministers from within and outside the BRICS group are expected to attend the meeting.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will attend the meeting. South Africa’s Ronald Lamola and Brazil’s Mauro Vieira are also both attending.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will not attend due to Trump’s visit to Beijing. Instead, China will be represented by China’s Ambassador to India Xu Feihong, Indian media has reported.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has landed in New Delhi to participate. Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Sugiono also arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday.
It is not clear who will be representing the UAE at the BRICS meeting, even as the US-Israel war on Iran exacerbates tensions between the UAE and Iran.
What’s on the agenda?
The theme of this meeting is “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”, according to India’s Foreign Ministry. This will focus on “people-centric and holistic healthcare, with an emphasis on collaboration on pressing health challenges, including communicable and non-communicable diseases”, it added.
However, the ongoing war on Iran is likely to dominate, and discussions will set the agenda for the annual BRICS summit in September, observers say.
“The Iran war is likely to cast a shadow over both the BRICS summit and the Trump-Xi meeting,” Rafael Loss, a policy fellow for defence, security and technology at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), told Al Jazeera.
The war on Iran entered its 76th day on Thursday, with diplomatic efforts to end the conflict hanging in the balance.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that, as well as taking part in the main BRICS sessions, Araghchi will hold separate meetings with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and other officials attending the meeting.
In April this year, India hosted a BRICS Deputy Foreign Ministers and Special Envoys for the Middle East and North Africa meeting in New Delhi. That gathering ended without a joint statement after Iran and the UAE clashed over how to address the US-Israeli war on Iran, with the UAE also seeing itself as a victim of Iranian aggression.
Since then, tensions between Iran and the UAE have only risen, with Tehran’s war messaging increasingly targeting the UAE.
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza is also another point of stress within the bloc. At the April meeting, India – recently an Israeli ally – attempted to soften criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza, leading to a failure within the bloc to arrive at a consensus on the subject.
“The meeting in India occurs at a difficult time in which the cohesion of the BRICS confronts challenges due to the closer relations of India with the US and Israel, and the conflict in West Asia between Iran and the UAE,” Michael Dunford, emeritus professor at the School of Global Studies at the University of Sussex, UK, told Al Jazeera.
What about Trump’s meeting with Xi at the same time?
Trump landed in China on Wednesday evening and, after a ceremonial welcome, headed straight to his hotel. On Thursday, he will hold bilateral talks with the Chinese president, and will also join President Xi for a working lunch on Friday, before flying back to the US.
“A consequence of the coincidence of Trump’s visit to China with the BRICS foreign ministers’ summit in India is that Wang Yi will not attend, with China represented by its Indian ambassador Xu Feihong,” Dunford said.
ECFR’s Rafael Loss predicted that Trump is likely to try to convince Xi to put pressure on Iran to accommodate US demands to end the naval standoff in the Gulf and open the Strait of Hormuz.
In the past, he said, China avoided getting involved in protracted international conflict management efforts and instead attempted to “swoop in” to seal deals during the final stages, such as in the Iran-Saudi Arabia normalisation agreement of 2023, which has since collapsed.
“But if the price is right, and with Trump’s short-termism and disregard of traditional US allies, Xi could be persuaded to take a more vocal line vis-a-vis Iran,” Loss said. “Taiwan might end up bearing the brunt.”
How significant is this meeting?
This meeting of foreign ministers also comes amid an energy crisis triggered by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz during the US-Israel war on Iran.
Since early March, Iran has restricted shipping through the strait, a narrow waterway linking Gulf oil producers to the open ocean and through which 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies were shipped before the war. Iran has allowed passage by vessels from select countries, but they are required to negotiate transit with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Iranian attacks on US assets and oil and gas facilities in the Gulf in the early weeks of the war have also affected energy supplies.
In April, the US announced a naval blockade on ships entering or leaving Iranian ports, further adding to the disruption of global oil and gas supplies.
This has had a direct impact on several BRICS members. Both India and China rely heavily on Gulf oil shipped through the strait. Saudi Arabia and the UAE both ship oil through the strait. While Brazil, Egypt and South Africa are not as directly reliant on the oil that moves through the strait, they are impacted by rapidly rising fuel prices.
“It is unlikely that the BRICS summit will produce a consensus statement that goes beyond condemning attacks on nations’ sovereignty in general terms as BRICS has opted to do in the past, including on Russia’s war against Ukraine,” ECFR’s Loss said.
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