Bob Dole, after losing New Hampshire in 1988, bitterly admonished George H. W. Bush: “Stop lying about my record.” Donald Trump won the Granite State last night but strangely adopted the caustic tone of the loser 36 years ago.
He implied that something hidden in Nikki Haley’s background might elicit law enforcement interest and that New Hampshire’s Republican governor might be “on something.” He used profanity. Like Miss Havisham and her fixation on her ill-fated wedding, Trump could not resist talking about how Democrats stole the presidency from him despite this grating people who do not wear red hats. He said that his opponents on the other side of the aisle hate America.
Losers paint in dark hues. Trump won but spoke like he did not. People who act like losers do not ultimately win. This reality presents an existential problem for Donald Trump’s ambition.
Trump saw reason to celebrate. He won in a moderate northeastern state best-suited for a Haley victory. She won the endorsement of the state’s largest newspaper and its governor. Beyond this, an extraordinarily high number of Democrats and independents voted in the open Republican primary. Yet, he still won.
On the other hand, Haley received a much higher percentage of the vote than Trump did in winning New Hampshire in 2016. Moral victories do not exist in elections. But it’s worth noting that Haley exceeded the portion of the vote won by Eugene McCarthy in 1968 against Lyndon Johnson and Pat Buchanan in 1992 against George H.W. Bush. The press and the public reacted as though those two men who lost really won because they performed strongly and above expectations against a sitting president. Trump, of course, does not run as an incumbent. But, for all intents and purposes, he does. New Hampshire underwhelmed for him to the same degree that Iowa overwhelmed.
The exit polls surely showed him to be the president of rural Republicans, Republicans lacking college diplomas, and poorer Republicans. One does not win the presidency with such a coalition alone.
This is why last night was a missed opportunity to extend an olive branch rather than wield a brickbat against Haley, to stop harping on old grievances that alienate the voters he needs, and to exude a sunny optimism appealing to independents. By not doing this, Trump appears preoccupied with being the president of the Republican Party rather than the president of the United States. He always plays to the room and never to the larger audience outside of it. This serves as his Achilles’ heel. He doesn’t know his audience.
The current president of the United States, despite not appearing on the ballot, won by a wider margin than Trump did. However much polling showed Democrats less united behind Biden, they proved a loyal and disciplined bunch on election day. Republicans, in New Hampshire at least, demonstrated a skittishness about Trump.
Tuesday showed that the Republican nomination belongs to Donald Trump. It also demonstrated that he runs as his own worst enemy for the general election.
Adapt and overcome. Stay unmoved in the same place at the risk of the coroner confusing the inability to change with rigor mortis.
New Hampshire sounded an alarm. Donald Trump can ill-afford to hit snooze.
