Fierce is a free weekly newsletter about conservative women and politics.
Happy Friday! Sending warm vibes to our friends in Texas and to everyone else who is iced in, snowed under or generally disgruntled with winter. Spring is only a month away!
In today’s edition:
Newsweek declares Nikki Haley to be the GOP frontrunner for 2024
Reps. Nicole Malliotakis and Elise Stefanik continue to lead calls for Andrew Cuomo’s resignation
Rep. Lauren Boebert gives liberals the vapors with her Zoom background
— Teri Christoph (Email: fierce@substack.com)
The big political news this past week — besides Ted Cruz getting his Spring Break on in Cancun — was, of course, President Trump’s acquittal following a second sham impeachment. Now that we’re past that nonsense, the former president can get started on his post-White House plans, including possibly starting his own social media platform and, perhaps, another run at the top job.
If Trump decides to run for another term, will Nikki Haley be his main challenger? That is the case being made by mainstream media and some inside-the-Beltway types, particularly in light of Haley’s propensity to publicly bash Trump. My take, via Bongino.com:
What do actual voters have to say? A poll of registered voters conducted this week by Morning Consult and Politico show Haley’s former boss atop the 2024 Republican field, with Haley polling below Mike Pence and Donald Trump, Jr.
Also:
Haley made her feelings about Donald Trump clear when she she told Politico, “I don’t feel like I know who he is anymore.” Many conservatives feel the same way about Nikki Haley.
Haley may well emerge the frontrunner at some point, but it’s going to take a lot of political savvy and solid messaging to grassroots conservatives to make that happen. It wouldn’t hurt for her to make amends with Trump, but he turned her down flat this week when she requested a meeting with him at Mar-a-Lago.
Speaking of Trumps running for office, could a Lara Trump run for the Senate be in the offing? It’s looking more and more likely. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Fox News that he thinks Lara Trump was the biggest winner following the Senate’s vote to acquit her father-in-law:
“My dear friend Richard Burr, who I like and have been friends with for a long time, just made Lara Trump almost the certain nominee for the Senate seat in North Carolina to replace him if she runs, and I’ll certainly be behind her because she represents the future of the Republican Party,” he said.
A few other conservative women announced their Senate candidacies this week. Lynda Blanchard, who was Trump’s ambassador to his wife’s home country of Slovenia, announced she’ll be running for the seat being vacated by Richard Shelby (R-AL) in 2022. From The Washington Examiner:
Touting herself as “a proud member of the MAGA movement” in a video announcing her candidacy, the former ambassador said she planned to push Trump's “America first” policies if she's elected by pushing back against Democratic leadership in the federal government.
And Jane Timpken, former head of the Ohio Republican Party, has announced that she will run for the seat being vacated by retiring Republican senator Rob Portman.
Timken said she is running for the Senate “to fight for the Trump agenda, stop socialism dead in its tracks and be a champion for all Ohioans.”
We’ll keep an eye on those races and see if 2022 is shaping up to be another Year of the Conservative Woman.
Let’s catch up with the conservative women already in Congress. As we discussed in last week’s newsletter, Reps. Nicole Malliotakis and Elise Stefanik, who represent districts in New York, are continuing to call for the removal of Gov. Andrew Cuomo from office.
If you can stomach being on Twitter, I really do recommend following Janice Dean. She has been tenacious in her quest for justice and accountability following the deaths of her in-laws last year while in a nursing home. She and Stefanik have been relentless in calling for investigations of Cuomo’s incompetent and malicious handling of the issue. It seems to finally be gaining some traction in the mainstream media — perhaps they’ll even do some journalisming once they’ve stopped congratulating themselves for breaking the Ted Cruz “scandal.”
Rep. Nancy Mace wrote an op-ed about the need to re-open schools nationwide, arguing:
The kids aren’t all right. Many are suffering emotionally, socially and academically. It’s time we put our children, not the teachers' unions, first.
She’s exactly right.
In other Nancy Mace news, she’s bee named a vice chair of the Republican National Congressional Committee, tasked with helping Republicans win seats in 2022. She is clearly a rising star in the party.
As she does on a daily basis, Rep. Lauren Boebert sent liberals into a tizzy yesterday when she appeared on a Zoom call with — gasp! — guns and rifles in the background. Get the fainting couch! Her appearance on the House Committee on Natural Resources meeting caused one Democrat colleague (male, of course) to whine that Boebert was “fetishizing” guns. I think we call that the Second Amendment, champ.
One of our favorite governors, Kristi Noem, told Fox News this week that the key to Republican success going forward is for the GOP to keep their word, saying, “That’s what the last administration did, is they took action, and people realized that they liked that, and they liked the benefits of people who actually were public servants.”
Noem also blasted MSNBC’s Joy Reid for ignorant remarks Reid made about Mount Rushmore.
“Last night @JoyAnnReid called Mount Rushmore the ‘stone idol to presidential colonizers.’ On Presidents’ Day of all days!” the Republican governor tweeted Tuesday morning. “The left wants to re-write our history by attacking the leaders who made America the most special country ever. It’s our duty to teach our kids the truth.”
A few last things to flag for you:
Question of the Week
You all have some serious opinions about Nikki Haley! Last week’s question was: Do you support Nikki Haley running for president in 2024? This ties in nicely with the discussion above about her “frontrunner” status. Here’s a tasting of your answers:
I don’t trust appeasers. No, I do not/ will not support Nikki Haley.
I honestly cannot believe she made those comments about President Trump. I live in SC and am so disappointed.
Nikki Haley is yet another RINO ready to say whatever she thinks it takes to distance herself from Trump's base to get elected. NO. Just NO.
I did up until just a few days ago when her true colors came out....
Conclusion: Nikki has an uphill battle to win over grassroots conservatives.
I’m a bit late in getting today’s newsletter out and that’s because, earlier today, I took my 87-year-old mother to get her second COVID-19 vaccine. She’s a former public health nurse and didn’t hesitate to get the vaccine. That spurred this week’s question:
Have you/will you get the COVID-19 vaccine?
Please send your responses to me (Teri!) at fierce@substack.com.
In Their Own Words
Deployment of the National Guard in DC:
Florida Travel Ban:
RIP, Rush Limbaugh
Just For Fun
Teri Christoph is the publisher of the Fierce newsletter. She is co-founder of Smart Girl Politics, an online network for women, and can be found on Twitter, Gab and MeWe.