NIKKI HALEY PAINTS HERSELF INTO A CORNER. With the South Carolina primary less than three weeks away, Nikki Haley has become more overtly critical of former President Donald Trump. That is to be expected. After all, Haley is running against Trump one-on-one — what else is she going to do? Lagging far behind Trump, really far behind Trump, Haley has ramped up her attacks as the only way to catch up with the former president. But at the same time, Haley has few, if any, major policy differences with Trump that might normally form the basis of new political attacks. So the Haley offensive against Trump has been mostly based on personal attributes: Trump is old, he’s out of it, he’s unhinged, he’s mean — that sort of thing.

When she hits Trump that way, Haley does two things. One, she wins positive reinforcement from the parts of the political and media world that love that kind of attack on Trump. Just look at her weekend appearance on Saturday Night Live. The producers gave her valuable national airtime in a skit playing the sensible foil to a ridiculous Trump impersonator. They even offered her a little absolution on her Civil War blunder of several weeks ago. For her work, Haley received an anti-Trump pat on the head from the people who give out pats on the head.