Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley made the case for President Trump’s reelection in her speech at the Republican National Convention on Monday night, contrasting his “new era of opportunity” with the policies of Democratic nominee Joe Biden and Barack Obama.
“This president has a record of strength and success,” Haley declared. “The former vice president has a record of weakness and failure.” She then recited a litany of foreign policy differences with Biden and the previous administration.
“Obama and Biden let North Korea threaten America,” Haley said. “President Trump rejected that weakness, and we passed the toughest sanctions on North Korea in history.”
“Obama and Biden let Iran get away with murder and literally sent them a plane full of cash,” she continued. “President Trump did the right thing and ripped up the Iran nuclear deal.”
“Obama and Biden led the United Nations to denounce our friend and ally, Israel,” Haley went on. “President Trump moved our embassy to Jerusalem — and when the U.N. tried to condemn us, I was proud to cast the American veto.”
The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley, 48, is viewed as a rising star in the Republican Party. She is frequently listed near the top of 2024 presidential candidates, and there was even occasional speculation she could replace Vice President Mike Pence on this year’s ticket alongside Trump. Pence was formally renominated earlier Monday.
Haley, a Clemson University graduate, was elected governor of South Carolina in 2010 and reelected four years later, at the height of the Tea Party era. She was the first woman and first racial minority group member to hold the position, in keeping with the “Land of Promise” theme of the convention’s opening night. “My father wore a turban. My mother wore a sari,” Haley recalled in her speech. “I was a brown girl in a black and white world.”
“In much of the Democratic Party, it is now fashionable to say that America is racist,” she said. “That is a lie. America is not a racist country.”
Originally a Marco Rubio supporter and Trump critic during the 2016 Republican primaries, after her appointment as permanent representative to the U.N. in 2017, she emerged as an effective communicator on behalf of the administration. Haley was also seen as a stalwart defender of U.S. interests at the international body and a staunch supporter of Israel, winning comparisons to Jeane Kirkpatrick, who served in the role under President Ronald Reagan, and began her speech quoting Kirkpatrick’s address to the 1984 GOP convention.
“Joe Biden and the Democrats are still blaming America first,” Haley said. “Donald Trump has always put America first. And he has earned four more years as president.”
Haley resigned from her post at the U.N. in October 2018. “Hopefully, you’ll be coming back at some point, maybe in another capacity,” Trump said at the time, appearing with her at the White House when her resignation was announced. Unlike many officials who have departed from the Trump administration, Haley left on good terms.
But Haley has occasionally distanced herself from the president even since working for him, sometimes drawing rebukes from Trump loyalists. She responded to a presidential tweet jabbing at congressman Elijah Cummings after the Maryland Democrat’s Baltimore home was robbed by saying, “This is so unnecessary.” Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway retweeted Haley and wrote, “THIS is so unnecessary. Trump-Pence 2020.”
After leaving the ambassadorship, Haley published her memoirs With All Due Respect: Defending America with Grit and Grace. She served for a time on Boeing’s board of directors but resigned in protest in March to express her opposition to federal taxpayer bailouts of the aerospace industry.
Haley argued that Biden would ratify the Democratic Party’s leftward drift. “A Biden-Harris administration would be much, much worse,” she said. “Last time, Joe’s boss was Obama … this time, it would be Pelosi, Sanders, and ‘The Squad.’ Their vision for America is socialism. And we know that socialism has failed everywhere.”
The GOP convention is split between live events in Charlotte, North Carolina, and virtual speeches. Delegates voted to renominate Trump Monday, and he is scheduled to deliver his acceptance speech from the White House on Thursday.
