Nikki Haley (*1972) served as President Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations from January 2017 until December 2018. That already showed that she had some strange ideas regarding Donald Trump. Nevertheless, she stepped down herself and, in the 2024 presidential race, stepped up against the former president and remained the last, half-way serious challenger to him.
After she ended her presidential bid, Nikki Haley did not endorse Donald Trump but said that he would have to earn the support of her voters. The former president did not make a single step towards her voters. Nevertheless, in May 2024 she said she would vote for Trump and, therefore, endorsed him. This rightly sparked a backlash from some of her former (anti-Trump) supporters. Let’s hope they will not follow her and vote for Kamala Harris or at least stay home.
In her 2024 Republican convention speech, Nikki Haley claimed to speak on Trump’s request for the sake of GOP unity. She lost what was left of her credibility but did not end up as Donald Trump’s VP pick. Maybe there’s another job in Trump’s administration for her if he should win the 2024 presidential election.
On July 25, 2024 in a CNN interview, Nikki Haley told Jake Tapper: “I never thought he [Joe Biden] would make it to the election. I always said a vote for Joe Biden is a vote for Kamala Harris…” Jake Tapper reminded her that she (probably rightly) had said during her campaign that the first party “to retire its 80-year-old candidate” would win the 2024 election. In addition, one could add that she had rightly called Biden and Trump “two grumpy old men” in a “rematch nobody wants”.
Nikki Haley made a good point when she said that the Democrats chose “the weakest candidate they could put in”.
I would say – and most people will agree with me – that Kamala Harris has no great achievements as vice president, she is dull, her rhetorical skills are limited. The list of her weaknesses is much longer. Nevertheless, the choice is now between Trump and Harris, and only Donald Trump had tried to reverse the result of a free and fair election and had tried to stay in the White House although he had lost the 2020 presidential election.
When questioned by Jake Tapper whether she thought Trump would respect the Constitution if reelected, Nikki Haley said: “I hope he does. I hope that any president would follow the Constitution.”
I would say that “hope” is very far from certainty, especially given that, in 2020, Donald Trump had falsely and prematurely claimed victory. In the past, Nikki Haley herself has rightly called Donald Trump “unhinged”.
In the CNN interview, Nikki Haley said: “So, the fact they put in Kamala Harris – kudos for puttin in someone younger – the fact that you put in in one of the most liberal politicians you probably could have put in, it’s going to be an issue.” Nikki Haley claimed that Kamala Harris was the most progressive senator next to Bernie Sanders. Nikki Haley said in the CNN interview that Kamala Harris had “pushed for all that government spending” and that, in California, “there was no tax she didn’t propose”. Nikki Haley said that, on the national stage, Kamala Harris was against fracking and oil drilling. That she was much more progressive than Joe Biden ever was.
However, within the Californian Democratic Party, Nikki Haley was not just in favor of “liberal” positions on the hard left. As a former prosecutor and former attorney general of California, she even had a law-and-order image. At the same time, she has consistently supported abortion rights, a point on which she can seriously hurt Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential campaign. Roughly 50% of voters are women.
In his 2024 Republican convention speech, Donald Trump falsely claimed: “She [Kamala Harris] wants abortions in the eighth and ninth month of pregnancy, that’s fine with her, right up until birth, and even after birth – the execution of a baby.” These are of course lies, which do not seem to bother someone like Nikki Haley.
In the CNN interview, Nikki Haley, an Indian American, rightly criticized those Republicans who called Kamala Harris a “DEI” candidate, meaning the Democrat made her career only thanks to affirmative action.
Nikki Haley said: “Donot talk about how she [Kamala Harris] looks like, what gender she is. Talk about the fact that she doesn’t believe in fracking, tell that in PA [Pennsylvania], tell that she doesn’t want to pay down the debt but wants to increase taxes.”
Regarding the last point, Nikki Haley seems to forget that, in February 2019, BEFORE the pandemic and before Putin’s escalation of the war against Ukraine, under President Trump, the United States produced the highest monthly deficit in US history.
Nikki Haley continued her attacks in the CNN interview, instead of talking about DEI: “Talk about the fact that consumer prices have gone up 19.5% since Biden/Harris are in office. Talk about the fact that she has always sided with the Palestinian protest instead of our friend Israel. It doesn’t matter what she looks like. It matters what she said, what she›s fought far and the lack of results she’s had because of it.”
Regarding Israel, Nikki Haley’s view is too simple. Israel’s Gaza war is the direct response to the Hamas massacres in Israel. Joe Biden and his government stood and stand on the side of Israel. However, criticism of the conduct of war must be allowed. Netanyahu‘s cabinet includes the extremists Ben Gvir and Smotrich.
Regarding Russia and Ukraine, Nikki Haley said in the interview with Jake Tapper: “What I will tell you is when Russia gets a little bit, they want a little bit more and a little bit more. And so that should send a warning sign to Trump and to Vance to go and show, ‘No, we’re going to stand for America, we’re not going to stand for Russia, and we’re going to stand with Ukraine because that’s the right thing to do.’ I hope they do that.”
The reality is that Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that he could end Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine within 24 hours. That would mean major concessions to Russia. Furthermore, in June 2024, Trump described the Ukrainian President Zelensky as “maybe the greatest salesman of any politician that’s ever lived … Every time he comes to our country, he walks away with $60 billion … It never ends.”
Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance is an isolationist. In the Senate, he was one of the few who, unsuccessfully, tried to block the $60 billion military aid package for Ukraine mentioned by Trump, who indirectly (through pressure on GOP lawmakers) blocked the assistance for months.
Haley defended Trump’s record on Russia during his first term: “I know that Trump kept dictators at bay, and that’s what I hope he will continue to do.” Again, Nikki Haley is offering “hope” whereas, in reality, Trump’s positions, statements and previous actions let all observers fear the worst for Ukraine and other countries under pressure from dictators. If Ukraine is a major issue for you, unlike Donald Trump and JD Vance, Kamala Harris is in favor of continued aid to Ukraine.
Nikki Haley went as far as to say in the CNN interview: “This is about moral clarity. Standing with Ukraine, standing with Taiwan, standing with Israel, that’s moral clarity. That’s what I want President Trump to have. I will always be vocal about that.”
But, during her presidential campaign, Nikki Haley herself had rightly said the opposite regarding Donald Trump: He is lacking “moral clarity”.
You can be wrong once, and then correct your position. Nikki Haley served as ambassador under Trump, then took her distances and ran against the misogynist, xenophobe and liar with a soft spot for dictators. Now, Nikki Haley stands again behind Trump. This time, she can’t be forgiven.
If you voted for Nikki Haley during the primaries, remember why you did it: to prevent another Trump presidency. Vote for Kamala Harris, even if she is not your dream candidate.
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Nikki Haley in 2023. Photograph by Gage Skidmore (via Wikipedia/Wikimedia).
Article added on July 26, 2024 at 19:54 Swiss time.
