I’m so glad you’re sticking with this race, Nikki Haley.

You finished second in the New Hampshire primary and now everyone says it’s over.

But it’s not over. It’s only just begun.

Because you’ve cracked the code. You’re a threat to Donald Trump and his near-decade dominance of the Republican Party.

You threaten him because you have all the qualities this party desperately needs.

You’re a model of decency and good character, a responsible leader with adult judgment.

And you are waging a charm offensive that brings out the worst in him.

Trump’s New Hampshire victory speech was a thug’s manifesto. A demand that you submit.

He wants to control you and he cannot, so he says things like, “I don’t get too angry — I get even.”

What does that mean?

That’s not how U.S. presidential candidates speak. That’s how mob bosses speak.

That Donald Trump can speak that way so freely shows you the rot that has set into our body politic.

American politics should be the art of persuasion — the advance of ideas and aspirations that solve our problems and lift our people.........

© Arizona Republic