Some disappointed Republicans continued to circulate a photo of Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., then South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., campaigning together even after Donald Trump won the nomination. It was an image of what might have been, depicting what syndicated columnist Deroy Murdock described as a “Republican rainbow coalition.”
Rubio and Scott have remained respected lawmakers in the age of Trump, but Haley is the sole member of that trio who has ascended as part of the administration. Only Vice President Pence is talked about more often as a presidential possibility than the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Being associated with this president’s Cabinet hasn’t always been reputation-enhancing. Tom Price was a respected congressman and chairman of an important House committee; now he is a former secretary of health and human services who left under scrutiny surrounding his investments and air travel. Jeff Sessions was a senior senator; he is now a beleaguered attorney general who is frequently needled on Twitter by his boss. Ronny Jackson received bipartisan acclaim for the medical treatment he provided presidents; after bipartisan criticism of his managerial credentials and talk about his drinking habits and pill prescriptions, the withdrawn nominee is fighting for his career.
Haley’s star has only risen under Trump. But she has to avoid the pitfalls of upstaging the boss — or falling out of step with his “America First” foreign-policy instincts. She weathered one controversy when she got out ahead of Trump on imposing new sanctions on Russia. She said they were happening; the president decided, at that juncture, they were not.
“It was not the first time Mr. Trump has yelled at the television over something he saw Ms. Haley saying,” the New York Times reported. Top Trump economic adviser Lawrence Kudlow said Haley was momentarily confused. “With all due respect,” she shot back on Fox News, “I don’t get confused.” Kudlow apologized.
“What gets lost in the coverage of their recent spat concerning Russian sanctions is that Donald Trump and Nikki Haley truly need each other,” said Republican strategist Ford O’Connell. “For Haley, her service in the Trump administration has been invaluable, it has raised her profile tremendously for future political endeavors. She could even conceivably parlay it into a 2024 Republican presidential nomination.”
“For Trump, Haley has been a calm, clear and consistent voice for the Trump agenda not only at the U.N. but also on the world stage,” O’Connell added. “Haley is someone who provides gravitas to Trump’s ‘outside the box’ thinking on foreign policy. It also doesn’t hurt that Haley is someone who is not only respected by the Republican base but also the mainstream media — truly a rare combination in these strange political times.”
Haley is also someone admired by many Never Trump conservatives who has nevertheless enjoyed sustained success within the Trump administration. How long she can walk the tightrope of being seen as loyal to the president while keeping some distance from him and staying true to her own foreign-policy vision? How she navigates the present will help determine her political future.
“The question to me would be where is that political future,” said Christian Ferry, a Republican strategist who managed South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham’s presidential campaign. “She has already served as governor of South Carolina, does she want to challenge a sitting Republican senator? Any talk of someone besides Donald Trump being the Republican nominee for president in 2020 is idle chatter at this point.”
Yet a recent Quinnipiac poll found Haley with a 63 percent job approval rating, with Democrats approving of her almost as much their own leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. CNN asked if she was “the most popular politician in America.”
For now, her fortunes ride on the fate of a more polarizing one. “Whatever differences Trump and Haley have on Russian sanctions will eventually dissipate because both recognize that if the Trump administration succeeds Nikki Haley will be the future beneficiary,” O’Connell said.
