As Donald Trump grimly faces the first federal criminal indictment ever handed down to a president, let’s consider his competition in the Republican primary.

My father challenged me to pick “the best of the worst” in the wide field of Republican men -- and a woman, former Gov. Nikki Haley -- contesting Trump in the 2024 race.

I’ll cover the most viable, visible candidates. Many were acolytes and allies of Trump.

Quick, who is that North Dakota governor again? Doug Burgum outlawed reproductive rights for women and girls even if they are victims of rape and incest (after six weeks of pregnancy.) In Hollywood script talk, that’s a roomemptier.

So, no go for forced births. Sorry, gov.

And that brash biotech businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who knows nothing about political history? He vows to pardon Trump if elected. That’s it. He’s out.

Then there’s the roughhewn New Jerseyan, a former governor who claims to see the light about Trump at last. Chris Christie is his name. Have you ever seen him dance at a Bruce Springsteen concert? Not very... presidential. But that’s the least of it.

Untrustworthy Christie was all in for Trump until he wasn’t, like last week. He helped Trump prepare for his 2020 campaign debates with Joe Biden. He must be a terrible judge of character if he’s only now denouncing his political paragon for the 37-count federal indictment, including acts of espionage and conspiracy.

Most of these people seem unpleasant, a far cry from the days when politicians had a ready smile, handshake and a good word for folks.

Who wants to have a beer with sour Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis? So far, his nastiness is unsurpassed, except for Trump. He’s declared war on a major employer and tourist attraction in his state, Disney World, the LGBTQ community, library freedom and reproductive rights for women and girls.

Very nice, as if DeSantis learned his manners on Guantanamo, where he worked as a naval lawyer overseeing the treatment of detainees in the military island jail. So, no way.

South Carolina’s Tim Scott, the one Black Republican in the Senate, has an affable demeanor. Yet he wanders a bit aimlessly and has little to show and say for his 10 years, other than party-line votes. He’s out.

Haley, also of South Carolina, is the only woman in the field. She served in the Trump administration as ambassador to the United Nations and distinguished herself in the international body with her sharp tongue.

That’s a key trait, which she showed again by loudly claiming that a vote for President Biden was a vote for President Kamala Harris, almost like a death wish for the 80-year-old president.

As governor, Haley resisted removing the Confederate flag from the state capitol until nine black church parishioners were murdered by a white supremacist in Charleston, South Carolina. She’s out.

Even if Trump stashed boxes of state secrets in his Mar-a-Lago bathroom and refused to return them to the National Archives, as charged, he’s committed another crime for which he can’t be prosecuted.

Trump poisoned the well, corrupted and even destroyed the “grand old party” for a generation or two. He never chose someone for a smooth succession, like most leaders try to do, because of his lust for power.

Instead, he incited a mob to hang Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6, 2021, in the coup gone wrong. The gallows was set and ready outside the Capitol.

Pence did the right thing on Jan. 6, 2021, to defend democracy. He refused to let the armed mob attack on the Capitol keep Congress from finishing the electoral count in the wee hours. The genteel Pence broke with Trump after meekly following him for years.

Yet the Indiana man is an arch-conservative.

Torn, I turned to Norm Ornstein, the sage of Washington politics, for his opinion on the best Republican running. He named a dark horse in the race: “(Former Arkansas Gov.) Asa Hutchinson has more intellectual honesty than the others. Having said that, of course, he is extremely conservative and would pick radical right-wing judges and be bad for abortion and many other issues. But I believe he’d support the rule of law.”

The refreshing rule of law. He’s in.

Jamie Stiehm may be reached at JamieStiehm. com. Follow her on Twitter @JamieStiehm. To find out more about Jamie Stiehm and other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, visit Creators.com.