Opinion | Nikki Haley Can Do a Lot of Damage

Bret Stephens: Hi, Gail. It’s fair to say that Nikki Haley has next-to-no chance of beating Donald Trump for the Republican nomination. Give her your best advice: Give up now? Fight a guerrilla campaign right up to the G.O.P. convention? Or join forces with someone like Joe Manchin in a third party?

Gail Collins: Third parties are for people who don’t care who wins the election as long as they’ve got their name on the ballot. I’d like to think she’s better than that.

Bret: A third-party run with her and Manchin might subtract more votes from Trump than from Biden. I hope someone is polling that right now. Sorry, go on ….

Gail: And I’d like her to stay in, if only to spare us nine straight months of nothing but Trump vs. Biden.

You?

Bret: Vive la résistance! She should fight Trump in every state she can, get under his skin, point out his every mental lapse and remind Republicans how they’ve been mostly losing votes and seats in every election since he squeaked into office in 2016. She should also remind them of all the promises Trump never kept: a wall along the southern border, paid for by Mexico, for example. It might be a political kamikaze mission, but if she does it with panache and a Happy Warrior spirit it could serve her reputation well, once conservatives recover their senses — in 10 to 20 years.

Gail: Hey, she’s only 52.

Bret: Also, let’s face it, the longer she stays in, the more it helps Joe Biden. That, plus last week’s strong economic numbers, gives me a glimmer of hope that the end of the world may not be nigh after all.