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Nikki Haley

American politician and diplomat (born 1972)

Nimrata Nikki Haley (born January 20, 1972) is an American politician who served as the 116th and first female Governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017 and as the 29th United States ambassador to the United Nations for almost two years, from January 2017 to December 2018. She ran in the Republican Party primaries for the 2024 United States presidential election.

We have the potential to make life better for others. In our own small way, we can inspire, mentor, and encourage other women to do great things. So, don’t hold back. Don’t be silent. Don’t give in to fear.
Be bold. Be adventurous. Be yourself.

Quotes

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2010

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  • Yes, it's part of a traditional – you know, it's part of tradition [...] And so, when you look at that, if you have the same as you have Black History Month and you have Confederate History Month and all of those. As long as it's done where it is in a positive way and not in a negative way, and it doesn't go to harm anyone, and it goes back to where it focuses on the traditions of the people that are wanting to celebrate it, then I think it's fine.

2015

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  • For many people in our state, the flag stands for traditions that are noble. Traditions of history, of heritage, and of ancestry.
    The hate filled murderer who massacred our brothers and sisters in Charleston has a sick and twisted view of the flag. In no way does he reflect the people in our state who respect and, in many ways, revere it. Those South Carolinians view the flag as a symbol of respect, integrity, and duty. They also see it as a memorial, a way to honor ancestors who came to the service of their state during time of conflict. That is not hate, nor is it racism.
    At the same time, for many others in South Carolina, the flag is a deeply offensive symbol of a brutally oppressive past. As a state we can survive, as we have done, while still being home to both of those viewpoints. We do not need to declare a winner and a loser here. We respect freedom of expression, and that for those who wish to show their respect for the flag on their private property, no one will stand in your way.

2017

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  • Our goal with the administration is to show value at the UN and the way that we'll show value is to show our strength, show our voice, have the backs of our allies and make sure our allies have our back as well.
  • For those that don't have our back, we're taking names, we will make points to respond to that acccordingly.


2018

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  • Everything that's working, we're going to make it better, everything that's not working we're going to try and fix, and anything that seems to be obsolete and not necessary we're going to away with.
  • With all due respect, I don't get confused.

2019

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  • This was one of the oldest African American churches – these 12 people were amazing people, they loved their church, they loved their family, they loved their community [referring to nine people who Dylann Roof killed in June 2015] And here is this guy that comes out with this manifesto, holding the Confederate flag and had just hijacked everything that people thought of (about the flag).
    But you know people saw it as service, and sacrifice and heritage – but once he did that, there was no way to overcome it.

2020

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2020 Republican National Convention

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CNN op-ed (24 August 2020)
  • Good evening. It is great to be back at the Republican National Convention. I’ll start with a little story. It’s about an American Ambassador to the United Nations. And it’s about a speech she gave to this convention. She called for the re-election of the Republican President she served… And she called out his Democratic opponent… a former vice president from a failed administration. That ambassador said, and I quote, “Democrats always blame America first.” The year was 1984. The president was Ronald Reagan. And Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick’s words are just as true today. Joe Biden and the Democrats are still blaming America first. Donald Trump has always put America first. He has earned four more years as President.
  • It was an honor of a lifetime to serve as the United States ambassador to the United Nations. Now, the U.N. is not for the faint of heart. It’s a place where dictators-murderers-&-thieves denounce America… and then put their hands out and demand that we pay their bills. Well, President Trump put an end to all that. With his leadership, we did what Barack Obama and Joe Biden refused to do. We stood up for America… and we stood against our enemies. Obama and Biden let North Korea threaten America. 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. 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. President Trump moved our embassy to Jerusalem – and when the U.N. tried to condemn us, I was proud to cast the American veto.
  • This President has a record of strength and success. The former Vice President has a record of weakness and failure. Joe Biden is good for Iran and ISIS… great for Communist China… and he’s a godsend to everyone who wants America to apologize, abstain, and abandon our values. Donald Trump takes a different approach. He’s tough on China, and he took on ISIS and won. And he tells the world what it needs to hear. At home, the President is the clear choice on jobs and the economy. He’s moved America forward, while Joe Biden held America back. When Joe was VP, I was governor of the great state of South Carolina. We had a pretty good run. Manufacturers of all kinds flocked to our state from overseas, creating tens of thousands of American jobs. People were referring to South Carolina as “the beast of the southeast,” which I loved. Everything we did happened in spite of Joe Biden and his old boss. We cut taxes. They raised them. We slashed red tape. They piled on more mandates. And when we brought in good-paying jobs, Biden and Obama sued us. I fought back… and they gave up.
  • A Biden-Harris administration would be much, much worse. 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. They want to tell Americans how to live… and what to think. They want a government takeover of health care. They want to ban fracking and kill millions of jobs. They want massive tax hikes on working families. Joe Biden and the socialist left would be a disaster for our economy. But President Trump is leading a new era of opportunity.
  • Before Communist China gave us the coronavirus, we were breaking economic records left and right. The pandemic has set us back, but not for long. President Trump brought our economy back before, and he will bring it back again. There’s one more important area where our President is right. He knows that political correctness and “cancel culture” are dangerous and just plain wrong. In much of the Democratic Party, it’s now fashionable to say that America is racist. That is a lie. America is not a racist country. This is personal for me. I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. They came to America and settled in a small southern town. My father wore a turban. My mother wore a sari. I was a brown girl in a black and white world. We faced discrimination and hardship. But my parents never gave in to grievance and hate. My mom built a successful business. My dad taught 30 years at a historically black college. And the people of South Carolina chose me as their first minority and first female governor. America is a story that’s a work in progress. Now is the time to build on that progress, and make America even freer, fairer, and better for everyone. That’s why it’s tragic to see so much of the Democratic Party turn a blind eye toward riots and rage.
  • The American people know we can do better. And of course we know that every single black life is valuable. The black cops who’ve been shot in the line of duty – they matter. The black small business owners who’ve watched their life’s work go up in flames – they matter. The black kids who’ve been gunned down on the playground – their lives matter too. And their lives are being ruined and stolen by the violence on our streets. It doesn’t have to be like this. It wasn’t like this in South Carolina five years ago. Our state came face-to-face with evil. A white supremacist walked into Mother Emanuel Church during Bible Study. Twelve African Americans pulled up a chair and prayed with him for an hour. Then he began to shoot. After that horrific tragedy, we didn’t turn against each other. We came together – black and white, Democrat and Republican. Together, we made the hard choices needed to heal – and removed a divisive symbol, peacefully and respectfully. What happened then should give us hope now. America isn’t perfect. But the principles we hold dear are perfect. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that even on our worst day, we are blessed to live in America. It’s time to keep that blessing alive for the next generation. This President, and this Party, are committed to that noble task.
  • We seek a nation that rises together, not falls apart in anarchy and anger. We know that the only way to overcome America’s challenges is to embrace America’s strengths. We are striving to reach a brighter future where every child goes to a world-class school, chosen by their parents. Where every family lives in a safe community with good jobs. Where every entrepreneur has the freedom to achieve and inspire. Where every believer can worship without fear and every life is protected. Where every girl and boy, every woman and man, of every race and religion, has the best shot at the best life. In this election, we must choose the only candidate who has and who will continue delivering on that vision. President Trump and Vice President Pence have my support. And America has our promise. We will build on the progress of our past and unlock the promise of our future. That future starts when the American people re-elect President Donald Trump.

2021

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  • When I tell you I'm angry, it's an understatement. Mike has been nothing but loyal to that man. He's been nothing but a good friend of that man... I am so disappointed in the fact that [despite] the loyalty and friendship he had with Mike Pence, that he would do that to him. Like, I'm disgusted by it.
  • I would not run if President Trump ran, and I would talk to him about it. That’s something that we’ll have a conversation about at some point if that decision is something that has to be made.

2022

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  • Anything Joe Biden signs will all but guarantee that Iran gets the bomb. No deal is better than a bad deal. And if this president signs any sort of deal, I’ll make you a promise. The next president will shred it on her first day in office. Just saying, sometimes it takes a woman.

If You Want Something Done (2022)

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If You Want Something Done: Leadership Lessons from Bold Women (2022)
  • Many of the women in this book were firsts. The first to be prime minister. The first to take a stand. The first to fly. Being the first is hard. It can be lonely and isolating. There is no road map, and people assume something is impossible simply because it hasn’t been done before. These women are leaders because they paved the way for the women who came after them. We walk in their footsteps and leave a well-trodden path for the women who come after us.
    As you read these pages, remember we have the potential to make life better for others. In our own small way, we can inspire, mentor, and encourage other women to do great things. So, don’t hold back. Don’t be silent. Don’t give in to fear.
    Be bold. Be adventurous. Be yourself. There will always be people who want to tell you what you can do and what you can’t. What is possible and what is not. I know because I have encountered those people throughout my life. Some of them were well meaning. But all of them wanted to limit my potential. Your potential is limitless. Your life — the life you want — is worth fighting for.
    So, fight.
    • Introduction
  • It’s easy to talk about principles. It’s hard to stand by them when everyone is lined up against you.
    • Ch. 1 : Margaret Thatcher: Stand for Principle
  • Sometimes it seems like we live in a zero-sum game, where one person’s success detracts from another person’s. Or we think we can only be successful by trampling on other people on our way to the top. Or that being great demands a certain isolation or mean streak. That’s simply not true. We are so much stronger when we join together with others. We are so much better off when we use our personal success to help others succeed.
    • Ch. 10 : Amelia Earhart : If You’re Going to Do Something, Do It Well
  • Amelia Earhart would have been a great aviator no matter what she did outside of the airplane. She was a great person and leader because of everything she did to help other women. She understood one woman’s success was all women’s success. We should learn from her legacy.
    • Ch. 10 : Amelia Earhart : If You’re Going to Do Something, Do It Well
  • Many think women are too emotional. Some think we are too ambitious. Some are convinced we are defined by one issue: whether we are pro-life or pro-choice.
    That’s unfortunate. I feel a kinship and sisterhood with women regardless of party. I often send supportive notes to women who have excelled in their field regardless of their political affiliation. Many have asked why I do that and waste my time. My answer: we are more than the issues the media divides us on. Growing up, I was always aware of how the media, the establishment on both sides, and academia divide women. You don’t see the same bias with men.
    • Conclusion
  • When I focused on the profiles in this book, I didn’t research if the women were Republican or Democrat. I didn’t know which president they voted for. What I know is they inspired me. They inspired me because they were above the noise. They each had one life and were determined to make the most of it. How amazing is that? They knew they were meant for great things, and they chased them until they fulfilled their purpose.
    • Conclusion
  • I am increasingly trying to make the most of my life and fulfill my purpose. And it’s okay if you don’t know your purpose yet. Just never stop searching and trying to find it. Every day you wake up, you have a choice. Either you push through the fear to find greatness or you sit on the sidelines, avoid challenges, and settle for comfort.
    One of the most important things we can do in life is push through the fear. When you do that, you live life the way God intended. The amazing women highlighted in this book all pushed through the fear. They knew they were called for a higher purpose. They faced challenges head-on. They were often ridiculed and isolated. But they showed us that challenges can be overcome and are worth the fight.
    • Conclusion
  • Let us be the leaders who love our families, love our communities, and love our country. We can remind our country what it means to be patriotic, to love thy neighbor, to focus on solutions and not arguments, to raise the next generation to be even better.
    If we want to return to a strong, patriotic, loving America focused on lifting up everyone, women will lead the way because we know — as Margaret Thatcher famously said — how to get something done.
    We have our work cut out for us. But we got this. Let the profiles in this book serve as our motivation, inspiration, and constant reminder. We are stronger than any label people give us. Our country is worth fighting for, and women will be the ones who save her.
    • Conclusion
  • To Joan Jett, you fill my funnel on rock ’n’ roll. You broke every stereotype there was, and you were criticized and isolated for it. You never gave up and in turn reminded me to never give up. Thank you for being my musical go-to when I was down, pushed aside, or rejected. Sisters in Rock Forever.
    To my sisters in arms: Life is hard, and you make it look so easy. I hope this is a reminder that you are not alone. Your intelligence, love, compassion, strength, grit, and tenacity are nothing short of awesome. Buckle up. We have a country to save. God bless each and every one of you.
    • Acknowledgments

2023

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  • Look, I think Biden is the ultimate socialist president. He loves to spend everybody else's money. His answer to everything is to increase taxes. And I think we need to be realistic. We're $31 trillion in debt. I think we're borrowing money to make our interest payments. This is not sustainable. The problem is Washington, D.C. has a spending problem, and we need to put them on a diet and put an end to it. I did this in South Carolina. We need to do it for the country. The first thing Biden should have done is said, "We're going to claw back the $500 billion of unspent COVID money." The second thing he should have said is, rather than the IRS agents going after innocent Americans, go back and go after the $100 billion of COVID fraud that happened along the way. We need to make sure we get on Republicans and Democrats because they both opened back up earmarks. This is not the time for them to be spending $2 billion on counties that don't exist and don't have government structures.
  • So if we're talking about entitlement reform, the first thing we do is, look, I have parents in their 80s. We take care of them. I don't want anything to hurt the seniors or anyone that's getting ready to retire. But I have kids in their 20s, those are the ones that need to go and know that things are going to be changed. So what you would do is for those in their 20s coming into the system, we would change the retirement age so that it matches life expectancy. The second thing we would do is we would limit benefits for the wealthy. Then you go further instead of cost of living increases do increases based on inflation. That's something Republicans and Democrats would agree with. And then more than that, expand Medicare Advantage plan so that we have more competition, and we run the costs down. That's what entitlement reform will look like. That's how you're going to make it sustainable. And that's also how you bring down the cost of what we're seeing right now.
  • You keep your promises to those that we've made, promises to. Those that have invested in should keep what they have. We shouldn't in any way jeopardize those that are already expecting something. This is about the new group coming in. It's the new ones coming in. It's those in their twenties that are coming in. You're coming to them and you're saying the game has changed. We're going to do this completely differently. That's how you go and you focus on it. We've got to start doing things like that. But more than that, we have to look at the fact that there is a spending problem in DC and Republicans and Democrats have done this to us, Neil. Don't forget that when this all started, with the Republicans, they passed a $2.2 trillion COVID stimulus package 419-6 in the House and 96 to 0 in the Senate that expanded welfare. Now we have 90 million people on Medicaid. You've got 42 million people on food stamps. We should be taking people from welfare to work. We shouldn't be paying people to sit on the couch and adding to the rolls of welfare. It was under Republicans' watch. They opened up earmarks again. Why are we spending on pork projects when one in six Americans can't pay their utility bill? We should stop borrowing. We don't have endless credit cards in our households or our businesses. Why are we allowing that to happen? And we should make sure that they understand that you should not pass a spending bill that doesn't take us back to pre-COVID levels. This is going to have to be harsh. It's going to take a president that is going to call out Republicans and Democrats. I did that as governor. I'll do it again as president.
  • America spent $46 billion on foreign aid last year. That’s more than any other country by far. Taxpayers deserve to know where that money is going and what it’s doing. They will be shocked to find that much of it goes to fund anti-American countries and causes. As president, I’ll put a stop to this fiasco.
  • The Biden administration resumed military aid to Pakistan, though it’s home to at least a dozen terrorist organizations and its government is deeply in hock to China... strongly supported President Donald Trump’s decision to cut nearly $2 billion of military aid to Pakistan because that country supports terrorists who kill American troops.... It was a major victory for our troops, our taxpayers and our vital interests, but it didn’t go nearly far enough. We’ve still given them way too much in other aid. As president, I will block every penny.
  • Our foreign-aid policies are stuck in the past. They typically operate on autopilot, with no consideration for the conduct of the countries that receive our aid.
  • I will cut every cent in foreign aid for countries that hate us. A strong America doesn’t pay off the bad guys. A proud America doesn’t waste our people’s hard-earned money. And the only leaders who deserve our trust are those who stand up to our enemies and stand beside our friends.
  • We are giving huge amounts of cash to countries that vote against us most of the time. That doesn’t make sense. I’ll stop it. America can’t buy our friends. We’ll certainly never buy off our enemies.
  • No country has a right to the American taxpayer’s money. Our leaders have a responsibility to protect our people and promote our interests. Our politicians aren’t doing that, all the way up to President Joe Biden. It’s about time we had a president who did.
  • Put an accountant in the White House!
  • I mean, we desperately want to get those American hostages out. But if you saw those kids in the hands of those terrorists, like, with a mom heart, it made me sick to my stomach for all those parents having to see their children in those terrorist hands. So, of course, we want them out.
  • But why isn't it so easy that we can do that? It's because we don't know where they are. And I have been in those tunnels that are massive, that are sophisticated, and that Hamas uses to hide equipment and ammunition and to do their dirty work and maybe to have those hostages.
  • But where are those tunnels? They're underneath hospitals. They're underneath schools. They're in hard-to-find places. So this is incredibly tough. I feel for the Israeli families. I feel for the American families. And I feel for any other families who've lost a loved one or have someone in a hostage situation, because it's really bleak right now. And it's hard for anyone to feel good about this.

Transcripts State of the Union (October 15, 2023)

As president, I’ll make America more like Iowa

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The Gazette op-ed (1 March 2023)
 
My purpose is to stop America’s downward spiral. I aim to move us forward toward freedom and self-confidence – toward the same strength and pride that defines the Hawkeye State.
  • America needs to be more like Iowa. That’s my main takeaway after spending time this week holding town halls across the state – my first visit since declaring my candidacy for President earlier this month. Iowa is strong and proud, with conservative leadership all the way. But under Joe Biden and the Democrats, strength and pride are afterthoughts at best. And based on their decision to ditch the state’s first-in-the-nation caucus, this President is ignoring Iowa entirely. Iowa deserves better. And Iowans know we can do better. That fact was clear in my conversations with countless residents from Des Moines to Urbandale to Cedar Rapids to Marion. They look at what’s happening to America, and it deeply worries them. They see family-owned farms and small businesses being destroyed by the heavy hand of government and bailouts for big business. They see veterans struggling to obtain the benefits they earned in the uniform of the United States. And they see their country losing faith in itself, with children learning to hate, not love, the greatest nation in human history.
  • My purpose is to stop America’s downward spiral. I aim to move us forward toward freedom and self-confidence – toward the same strength and pride that defines the Hawkeye State.
  • Iowa is strong and proud because of its education leadership. When Gov. Kim Reynolds signed education savings accounts into law earlier this year, she gave families the freedom to choose the school that’s right for their children. I fought for that same freedom as governor, and I’ll deliver it nationwide as President. And I’ll make sure no politician can close our schools ever again. Iowa’s strength and pride spring from many sources. This is a state that backs the blue, putting the police and safe streets ahead of criminals and chaos. It believes in defending religious liberty and the lives of the unborn. Families here believe in military service, which matters to me, as the wife of a combat veteran. And Iowans know we have to secure our border and stop the flow of dangerous drugs like fentanyl. The lives of our children, and the survival of our nation, depend on it.
 
The values that sustain Iowa are the bedrock of America. Yet President Biden is hard at work undermining them. He’s weakening our country – economically, culturally, and spiritually – at the exact moment we need to be strong. And he’s destroying the pride that inspires each generation to defend our freedom, which is an urgent necessity in the face of Communist China. President Biden and his party have even spread the lie that America is racist. Take it from me, the first minority female governor in history: America is not a racist country.
  • The values that sustain Iowa are the bedrock of America. Yet President Biden is hard at work undermining them. He’s weakening our country – economically, culturally, and spiritually – at the exact moment we need to be strong. And he’s destroying the pride that inspires each generation to defend our freedom, which is an urgent necessity in the face of Communist China. President Biden and his party have even spread the lie that America is racist. Take it from me, the first minority female governor in history: America is not a racist country.
  • As President, I will bring back our country’s strength and pride, building on the success that I see in Iowa and that I saw as governor of South Carolina. I’ll be back again soon, and I look forward to talking with even more Iowans about your lives and your worries. But I also look forward to hearing your hopes. Iowa is proof that America’s best days are ahead of us, and I look forward to proving it together with you.

Spending is out of control. And Democrats and Republicans share the blame.

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USA Today op-ed (7 March 2023)
  • The current push to raise the federal debt limit is depressing. Worse is the fact that this same fiasco will keep happening. Washington simply isn’t serious about getting spending under control. We must be honest: Both Democrats and Republicans are responsible for America’s spending crisis. They have both supported multitrillion dollar deficits that have brought us to a $31.6 trillion national debt and counting. The nonstop spending binge of the past three years also gave us the soaring inflation that’s still squeezing families and an economy that’s stumbling toward recession. We need a president who will do what no one has done to date: Stand up to the big spenders in both parties. The past few years prove that while Democrats and Republicans can’t agree on much, they do agree on spending America into bankruptcy.
  • Look no further than the bipartisan and boneheaded decision to bring back earmarks in 2021. They’re the gateway drug to higher spending, persuading lawmakers to vote for unaffordable trillion dollar bills because, hey, at least they got a cut. Congress has already passed $15.3 billion in earmarks and counting in fiscal year 2023, greasing the skids for ever-more-unaffordable spending blowouts. Then there’s welfare. Three years ago, Democrats and Republicans in Congress united to change Medicaid rules, adding tens of millions more people while dramatically expanding food stamps – with no strings attached. We should be saving taxpayer money by moving people from welfare to work, not the other way around.
  • Their bipartisan “infrastructure” bill was chock full of corporate welfare, too, including billions on electric chargers for cars Americans can’t afford. Every special-interest bailout, handout and carve-out that Washington politicians create pads a lucky few pockets while picking everyone else’s.
  • Republicans deserve to be called out for getting the ball rolling on the pandemic spending binge. Democrats deserve blame for keeping it going, price tag be damned. They’ve taken the famous line, "Never let a crisis go to waste," to a whole new level, throwing billions of dollars at everything from labor unions to government entities that don’t exist. And with President Joe Biden set to unveil his latest budget on Thursday, you can bet Democrats will continue to push for even more spending that Americans don’t need and can’t afford.
  • Chances are slim that Democrats and Republicans get serious about spending at any point between now and the election in November 2024. By then, Washington will have spent another $11 trillion while driving the national debt even higher. The American people are counting on the next president to get spending under control. As president, I will veto spending bills that don’t put America on track to reach pre-pandemic spending levels. I will claw back the $500 billion in federal pandemic funding that hasn’t been spent while going after up to $100 billion or more lost to fraud. These fights will inevitably pit me against Republicans as well as Democrats, but I’m used to it. As governor of South Carolina, I took on both parties to stop wasteful spending and to put every spending vote on the record, a fundamental measure of accountability and protecting taxpayers. I won that fight. It’s time someone in Washington stood up for taxpayers and stopped America’s slide toward bankruptcy.

Republican Presidential Debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (23 August 2023)

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Transcript by Roll Call (23 August 2023)
  • Well, I don't care about polls. What I care about the fact is that no one is telling the American people the truth. The truth is that Biden didn't do this to us. Our Republicans did this to us too. When they passed that $2.2 trillion COVID stimulus bill, they left us with 90 million people on Medicaid, 42 million people on food stamps. No one has told you how to fix it. I'll tell you how to fix it. They need to stop the spending. They need to stop the borrowing. They need to eliminate the earmarks that Republicans brought back in, and they need to make sure they understand these are taxpayer dollars. It's not their dollars. And while they're all saying this, you have Ron DeSantis. You've got Tim Scott. You've got Mike Pence. They all voted to raise the debt. And Donald Trump added $8 trillion to our debt. And our kids are never going to forgive us for this. And so, at the end of the day, you look at the 2024 budget. Republicans asked for $7.4 billion in earmarks. Democrats asked for $2.8 billion. So, you tell me who are the big spenders? I think it's time for an accountant in the White House.
  • First of all, we do care about clean air, clean water. We want to see that taken care of. But there's a right way to do it. And the right way is first of all, yes, is climate change real? Yes, it is. But if you go want to go and really change the environment, then we need to start telling China and India that they have to lower their emissions. That's where our problem is. And these green subsidies that Biden has put in, all he's done is help China because he doesn't understand all these electric vehicles that he's done, what that does that, half of the batteries for electric vehicles are made in China. And so, that's not helping the environment. You're putting money in China's pocket. And Biden did that. So, first of all, I think we need to acknowledge the truth, which is these subsidies are not working. We also need to take on the international world and say, okay, India and China, you've got to stop polluting. And that's when we'll start to deal with the planet.
  • I am unapologetically pro-life, not because the Republican Party tells me to be, but because my husband was adopted, and I had trouble having both of my children. So I'm surrounded by blessings. Having said that, we need to stop demonizing this issue. This is talking about the fact that unelected justices didn't need to decide something this personal, because it's personal for every woman and man. Now, it's been put in the hands of the people. That's great. When it comes to a federal ban, let's be honest with the American people and say it will take 60 Senate votes. It will take a majority of the House. So in order to do that, let's find consensus. Can't we all agree that we should ban late term abortions? Can't we all agree that we should encourage adoptions? Can't we all agree that doctors and nurses who don't believe in abortion shouldn't have to perform them? Can't we all agree that contraception should be available? And can't we all agree that we are not going to put a woman in jail or give her the death penalty if she gets an abortion? Let's treat this like the -- like a respectful issue that it is and humanize the situation and stop demonizing the situation.
  • HALEY: So first of all, I will say it is in the hands of the people, and that's where it should be. But when you're talking about a federal ban, be honest with the American people.
PENCE: I am being honest.
HALEY: We have had 45 pro-life senators in over 100 years. So no Republican president can ban abortions, any more than a Democrat president could ban all those state laws. Don't make women feel like they have to decide on this issue, when you know we don't have 60 Senate votes in the House.
PENCE: Seventy-percent of the American people support legislation to ban abortion --
HALEY: But 70 percent of the Senate does not.
  • Bret, I think we're all pro-life. But what I would love is for someone to ask Biden and Kamala Harris, are they for 38 weeks or are they for 39 weeks, are they for 40 weeks? Because that's what the media needs to be asking.
  • I do think that Vice President Pence did the right thing. And I do think that we need to give him credit for that. But what I will also tell you is, look, I mean, when it comes to whether President Trump should serve or not, I trust the American people let them vote, let them decide. But what they will tell you is that it is time for a new generational conservative leader. We have to look at the fact that three quarters of Americans don't want a rematch between Trump and Biden. And we have to face the fact that Trump is the most disliked politician in America. We can't win a general election that way.
  • First of all, the American president needs to have moral clarity. They need to know the difference between right and wrong. They need to know the difference between good and evil. When you look at the situation with Russia and Ukraine, here you have a pro-American country that was invaded by a thug. So when you want to talk about what has been given to Ukraine, less than 3.5 percent of our defense budget has been given to Ukraine. If you look at the percentages per GDP, 11 of the European countries have given more than the US But what's really important is go back to when China and Russia held hands, shook hands before the Olympics, and named themselves unlimited partners. A win for Russia is a win for China. We have to know that. Ukraine is the first line of defense for us. And the problem that Vivek doesn't understand is, he wants to hand Ukraine to Russia. He wants to let China eat Taiwan. He wants to go and stop funding Israel. You don't do that to friends. What you do instead is you have the backs of your friends. Ukraine is a front line of defense. Putin has said if Russia -- one Russia takes Ukraine, Poland and the Baltics are next. That's a world war. We're trying to prevent war. Look what Putin did today. He killed Prigozhin. When I was at the U.N., the Russian ambassador suddenly died. This guy is a murderer. And you are choosing a murderer over a pro-American country.
 
You have no foreign policy experience and it shows.
  • You have no foreign policy experience and it shows.
  • It's not that Israel needs America. America needs Israel.
  • So, first, I will tell you, as -- you know, as a parent, the one thing you want is for your child to have a better life than you did. And we can talk about all of these things, and there's a lot of crazy, woke things happening in schools, but we have got to get these kids reading. If a child can't read by third grade, they're four times less likely to graduate high school. So we need to make sure we bring in reading remediation all over this country. We need transparency in the classroom, because parents should never have to wonder what's being said or taught to their children in the classroom. Parents need to be deciding which schools their kids go to, because they know best. And let's put vocational classes back into the high schools. Let's teach our kids to build things again.
 
I will beat Joe Biden and he knows that. I will strengthen our economy and we will bring this inflation down. We will put transparency in the classroom. We will secure our borders. We will have the backs of our law enforcement. And we will make sure we have a strong national security. And, once again, we will make sure we have an America that is strong and proud.
  • Several weeks ago, I dropped my husband Michael, a combat veteran from Afghanistan, off at 4:00am for another year-long deployment. I watched him and 230 soldiers pick up their two duffel bags of belongings to go to a country they had never been, all in the name of protecting America. If they are willing to protect us from there, we should be willing to fight for America here. I will beat Joe Biden and he knows that. I will strengthen our economy and we will bring this inflation down. We will put transparency in the classroom. We will secure our borders. We will have the backs of our law enforcement. And we will make sure we have a strong national security. And, once again, we will make sure we have an America that is strong and proud. We have a country to save, join us. Go to nikkihaley.com, and let's get it done.

2024

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  • As a voter, I put my priorities on a president who’s going to have the backs of our allies and hold our enemies to account, who would secure the border, no more excuses. A president who would support capitalism and freedom, a president who understands we need less debt not more debt. Trump has not been perfect on these policies. I’ve made that clear, many, many times. But Biden has been a catastrophe. So, I will be voting for Trump.

Quotes about Nikki Haley

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  • As governor of South Carolina, she never messed up like Sanford, who also had strong presidential prospects before his escapades. But she messed up when she decided to embrace Donald Trump – rather than keeping him at arm’s length – providing further proof that even the most talented Republicans were willing to bend the knee to the former president. Though she released a video on Tuesday announcing her intention to run against Trump for president in 2024, Haley has lost the moral high ground she once had over him. To be clear, Haley never really had the moral high ground; she just created the illusion of having it. She is as politically ambitious as any man or woman who has considered themselves qualified enough to lead the world’s most powerful nation. However, her principles have often seemed an afterthought or conditional on circumstance. And despite Haley’s ambitions, former President Donald Trump is still the top contender for the nomination. His most loyal supporters, which still number in the millions, won’t abandon him just because of a loss in 2020 – which many of them falsely believe was stolen from him – and a bad 2022 midterm cycle for Trump-backed candidates.
  • And though Haley’s embrace of Trumpism was undoubtedly a mistake, there were early indications from her time as governor that her priority was not always the people of South Carolina, but her own political aspirations. In 2013, then-Gov. Haley and a Republican-dominated General Assembly denied the expansion of Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act to hundreds of thousands of low-income South Carolinians. She even opposed creating a statewide health care exchange under that law. Health officials in her administration told me at the time that there were simply better options, but it was clear to close observers in the state it was primarily about political expedience – especially when Haley declared that she would not expand Medicaid on President Barack Obama’s watch. About 40% of the state’s uninsured adults would have received health coverage under an expansion, as well as low-wage workers in retail and hospitality who are concentrated in Horry County, home to resort destination Myrtle Beach, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. A White House study said expansion could have saved about 200 lives in the state every year through early detection and treatment. And a University of South Carolina study estimated the state could have seen an additional 44,000 jobs added by 2020 with the multibillion dollar federal investment from a Medicaid expansion. Indeed, Haley, a self-avowed "pro-life" advocate, stood in the way of life-saving Obamacare – exposing her hypocrisy on an issue that has come to define the modern-day Republican Party.
  • But when Trump first declared, Haley was an early critic. In February 2016, she said she would not endorse Trump, explaining that he is “everything a governor doesn’t want in a president.” She continued to criticize him as she campaigned with Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, whom she had endorsed for president. Then Haley reversed course when Trump became the nominee, and she landed the type of position in his administration that would provide her with the foreign policy experience she’d need for a presidential run: US ambassador to the United Nations. She could plausibly claim to have taken the position to serve her country – not Trump. Her approach seemed to work. She had good standing among staunch Trump supporters but had not alienated those who considered themselves moderates and Never Trumpers when she left her position at the UN. As a South Carolina voter who had sworn off the Republican Party, I was even intrigued by what she had pulled off.
  • The Nikki Haley on stage during the first Republican primary debate would be a strong candidate in a general election against any Democrat. While the former South Carolina governor was shining, Sen. Tim Scott faded, performing as though his objective was to preserve the possibility Donald Trump might pick him as a running mate, not to win the nomination himself. I was genuinely surprised by Haley. She sounded like the Haley I’ve been covering since her first run for governor to before she gave in, like most other Republican officials, and bent the knee to Donald Trump. I thought that version of Haley was dead, but there she was, proudly on stage Wednesday night. She spoke hard truths to what she knew might be an unreceptive audience. The debate was hosted by Fox News, — a rightwing operation posing as news — which had to pay $787 million to settle a lawsuit because of its role in spreading lies about the 2020 election. The debate crowd was clearly pro-Trump, supporting a front-runner who didn’t even bother to show up. It made Haley’s decision to refuse to kowtow to the former president the way Vivek Ramaswamy did even bolder. She was aggressive when necessary, particularly in exchanges with Ramaswamy, and measured and nuanced when that made the most sense.
  • I don’t know what this means for the race, though I wouldn’t be surprised if Ramaswamy ticks up in the polls among Republicans given that he mimicked Trump’s 2016 primary debate performances. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Haley receives more good press than increased political support within the GOP. The fact is "the elephant not in the room," as moderator Bret Baier referred to Trump, remains the heavy favorite to capture his third consecutive GOP presidential nomination. Nothing that occurred on that stage Wednesday night did much to change that. But at least Haley can rightfully claim she didn’t bow down to Trump for once.
  • Haley has yet to define what her candidacy is about, why she’s running, or how she plans to deliver on the initial promise from her video announcement where she says it was time for a new generation of the Republican Party. “The bigger challenge for Ms. Haley is identifying the rationale for her candidacy beyond a winning persona,” The Wall Street Journal editorial board summed up last week. So far, the former South Carolina governor has missed two opportunities to differentiate herself before the field widens and her star turn at the center of the 2024 media circus wanes: staking a claim on race and the GOP and her stance on abortion following the Supreme Court striking down Roe v. Wade.
  • It is still early, but for now, some who count abortion as a top-tier issue view Haley as the most compassionate conservative candidate — both declared and those mulling a run — in the 2024 field. "I do think Nikki Haley’s got it down exactly. I think she truly comes from a place of love and care and concern for women and children," says Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. Dannenfelser, whose group has yet to endorse any Republican candidate, adds that Haley is doing a far better job talking about the issue than her former boss, Donald Trump, and since he’s the only other declared GOP candidate, that may be enough.
  • Haley, a trailblazing Indian American politician who cut her teeth in one of the most conservative states in the country, isn't winning over large blocs of Republicans at the moment given Trump's continued strength within the GOP and the intraparty intrigue with DeSantis' potential candidacy. But the former governor still has the potential to overcome her current standing as the Republican primary season heats up. Haley is still unknown to many voters, which means she'll have the opportunity to define herself, and with Trump concerned with more immediate threats from the likes of DeSantis and his own vice president, she'll have time to do that. And if it works, she could position herself as a forward-thinking leader who can move the GOP past the tumult of the 2020 presidential election.
  • When Haley was elected governor of South Carolina in 2010, she immediately became one of the highest-profile Republicans in a party that was starved for minority leaders, especially after Democrats in 2008 chose then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama as their party's first Black presidential nominee. With Obama's tenure in the White House overlapping with much of Haley's tenure in the Palmetto State, she sought to contrast her conservatism with policies at the national level, seeking to lure businesses to the state and fighting against labor unions. But she left the governor's mansion in January 2017 to assume her ambassadorship at a time when Trump was starting to assume control over larger parts of the party from his perch in the Oval Office. By the end of his term, Trump remained the dominant force in the party headed into 2024, despite his loss to now-President Joe Biden and the political fallout from the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol. So when Haley announced her presidential campaign in Charleston last month, it was in many ways a reintroduction of her record to a party that has essentially been defined by Trump since 2016.
  • By late February, roughly a third of Republicans either didn't know what to think of Haley or had no knowledge of the South Carolinian. And in a mid-March Morning Consult poll, Haley's favorability among GOP voters sat at 47%, while only 16% had an unfavorable view of her; roughly 1 in 5 respondents said they were unfamiliar with the ex-governor. This may give Haley the opportunity to define her candidacy before Trump and other potential entrants, like DeSantis and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have the chance to do so.
  • Haley’s track record, charisma and personal history are ideal for the Republican Party, or it would be if this was 2014. It remains to be seen if GOP voters will embrace any calm, effective, optimistic leader in the post-Trump era. Did 2022 teach conservative voters that candidates welded to The Donald don’t win, or do they want a third disappointing election day in a row? Haley is well-liked by most Republicans but doesn’t have anything like Trump’s passionate support. Nevertheless, she was a long shot in her elections to the Palmetto State Legislature and governor’s mansion. Perhaps lightning will strike a third time. She was smart to announce early, while other potential aspirants are still playing the “will he or won’t he” game. Former VP Mike Pence, Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump Secretary of Everything Mike Pompeo, and a baker’s dozen of other hopefuls will likely jump in this year.
  • In his four years in office, DeSantis has proved to be a hard-working and hard-charging governor, known more for getting things done than inspiring crowds. He’s more Cal Coolidge than Ronald Reagan. But many voters miss the sunny optimism of leaders like the Gipper. That’s where Haley can deliver, both in the suburbs and across party lines. She’s still a tough leader but can soften the harsh edges of DeSantis, especially after the thrashing he’s taken in the national press. Haley won reelection by double digits after doing a great job in the top office and moving South Carolina past some ugly remnants of the state’s history. And she, like DeSantis, motivated centrist Democrats to vote red despite their party registration. Can you imagine Nikki facing down Kamala on the debate stage? The vice president ended her presidential primary campaign after being savaged by Tulsi Gabbard of all people.
  • As former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley crisscrosses the country ahead of an anticipated 2024 presidential bid, she is also fixated on defending her home turf — from an incursion led by her onetime boss, former President Donald Trump. Haley is putting her political muscle behind South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace, a freshman congresswoman who blamed Trump for the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot — and who is now facing a Trump-endorsed opponent, Katie Arrington, in next week’s Republican primary. Haley, a former South Carolina governor, has appeared in Mace’s TV ads, headlined a fundraiser that raised six figures, and is expected to close out the race by holding several events with the congresswoman.
  • Haley’s intervention in the primary represents a political bet: By throwing her political might behind Mace — a candidate derided by Trump as “nasty, disloyal, and bad for the Republican Party” — and risking a defeat in her home state, Haley is taking steps to distinguish herself from a former president whom she served and who, like her, is weighing a 2024 bid. Those in Trump’s orbit concede it’s likely Haley will end up with the win, with public polling showing Mace ahead. While Haley is barnstorming the Charleston-area district for her candidate during the final days of the contest in a sign of confidence, Trump has opted against making an 11th-hour trip for Arrington.
  • People familiar with the race say Haley’s opposition to Trump in the primary is more circumstantial than intentional. Haley also backed Mace’s 2020 campaign, and the congresswoman represents the former governor’s home district. They also note that Haley has endorsed the same candidates as Trump in a host of other races, and they insist they were unaware Trump was planning to get behind Arrington. Haley endorsed Mace the day before Arrington entered the race, and two days before Trump endorsed Arrington. But Haley’s assistance to Mace has been particularly extensive. The former ambassador narrated an entire commercial for Mace, in which she describes the congresswoman as “tough as nails.” In March, Haley held a Charleston fundraiser for the candidate that netted more than $300,000. Haley is also expected to aid get-out-the-vote efforts, and her team has been helping raise small-dollar donations.
  • Haley’s involvement in the primary adds another wrinkle to her already-complicated relationship with the ex-president. Despite endorsing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio during the 2016 GOP nominating contest, Trump later selected her to be U.N. ambassador. She left the administration after just two years, a move that rankled some Trump advisers who were convinced she was bolting with an eye toward positioning herself for a future presidential bid.
 
She’s stayed in all this time and hundreds of millions of dollars has been spent on really what has been a vanity project, and hearing today that she was going to suspend her campaign – and still not endorse President Trump – that’s not unifying. And I think it’s time that she does unify, get behind President Trump. ~ Kari Lake
  • If this were the Republican Party of 10 years ago, Haley would be a candidate with enviable advantages, having served as a South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador. She is staunchly pro-life, and she is a woman of color — significant for a party that has wanted to diversify for years. But given the reality of Republican Party politics today, her presidential dream could become a nightmare. Under the best of circumstances, women who run for president face a particularly pernicious strain of American gender bias that has overshadowed every previous campaign. Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign was plagued with sexist double standards that played a huge part in derailing her. In 2020, six women candidates competed in the Democratic presidential field and received more negative coverage than their male counterparts. As I wrote about at the time, the combination of benign neglect from the media and disproportionately negative coverage certainly impeded their prospects. On the Republican side, Carly Fiorina faced an endless barrage of sexist attacks from then candidate Donald Trump and others when she ran for president in 2016. And women of color in the political arena, like Haley, are twice as likely as other candidates to be targeted with misinformation and disinformation.
  • Haley faces a high hurdle in even convincing Republican voters that a woman can be president. A December 2022 USA Today poll revealed just how challenging gender is in Republican politics. Overall, a majority of voters (55 percent) say that gender doesn’t matter in presidential elections. Those who did have a preference chose a male president by more than 2-1, 28 percent-12 percent. Among Republicans, 50 percent said the ideal president would be male while a paltry 2 percent said she would be female. In contrast, Democrats with a preference chose a woman over a man by 2-1, 24 percent-11 percent. Among those voters with a preference, men by 8-1 preferred a male president over a female one, 32 percent-4 percent. Even women were somewhat more likely to prefer a male president (25 percent-19 percent). Politics is as much about time and place as it is about talent. And in this time and place, the hurdles for a woman in the Republican Party are exceptionally high. Whether we agree with Haley’s positions or not, we should all root for a level political playing field that stays in the bounds of decency and civility. Unfortunately, in today’s Republican political reality, the chances that happens are slim to none.
  • In a scenario in which Trump loses in November, Haley is sure to be viewed in a different light. And so is the wing of the party she leads. Her message will have been validated; the party would be coming off four successive election disappointments, all of which would be linked to Trump. In the event of a Trump loss, the exit polls would likely tell a familiar story about how women voters and the suburbs rejected Trump — precisely the kinds of voters who like Haley. It’s possible that by 2028, Trump’s grip on the party might not have loosened. And MAGA voters would likely remain unforgiving. But even if she remains an outcast, at 52 years old, Haley’s horizon extends well beyond 2028. She figures to be a national figure for more than a decade to come — if she ran for president in 2040, she’d still be younger than Trump when he was sworn in as president. At the moment, it’s hard to envision a place for Haley in the GOP current iteration. But the party has a history of rewarding the tenacious, and for giving its failed presidential candidates a second chance, whether it’s Thomas Dewey, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole, George H.W. Bush, John McCain or Mitt Romney. Even Trump, another failed presidential candidate, is getting a second bite at the apple.
  • More than a handful of Republicans are already sniffing around the 2024 presidential contest. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Florida Sen. (and former governor) Rick Scott and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are just some of the Republicans who might launch White House bids if former President Donald Trump doesn’t seek a second term. And some of them might take the plunge even if Trump does seek the nomination again in two years.
  • Under Haley’s leadership, South Carolina thrived. Unemployment rates fell and South Carolina’s Department of Commerce announced tens of thousands of jobs had been created under her tenure and billions in capital investment flowed into the state. She also spearheaded efforts to pass a law that added transparency to the legislative process and required South Carolina lawmakers to vote on the record more frequently. In the aftermath of the 2015 mass-shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, Haley worked tirelessly to unify our state and successfully led the efforts to remove the Confederate Flag from the South Carolina State House grounds.
  • Ultimately, a dust-up between the former president and any Republican challenger is inevitable. What matters is that Haley is a formidable candidate who brings the executive experience from her days as governor as well as the foreign policy experience from her time as ambassador. This experience, paired with her ability to bring people together, her background as a mom and a military spouse, and her track record of fighting the uphill battle of running against old white men – is exactly why she is the right candidate, at the right moment, for Republicans to rally behind as we look to win back the White House in 2024.
  • As a former Republican political operative who worked in South Carolina presidential primaries, I look at Ms. Haley now, as she prepares to launch her own presidential campaign, with sadness tinged with regret for what could have been. But I’m not a bit surprised. Her rise and fall only highlights what many of us already knew: Mr. Trump didn’t change the Republican Party; he revealed it. Ms. Haley, for all her talents, embodies the moral failure of the party in its drive to win at any cost, a drive so ruthless and insistent that it has transformed the G.O.P. into an autocratic movement. It’s not that she has changed positions to suit the political moment or even that she has abandoned beliefs she once claimed to be deeply held. It’s that the 2023 version of Ms. Haley is actively working against the core values that the 2016 Ms. Haley would have held to be the very foundation of her public life.
  • In her 2019 book, With All Due Respect, the sort of autobiography candidates feel obligated to produce before launching a presidential campaign, Ms. Haley mentions Mr. Trump 163 times, overwhelmingly complimentary. In one lengthy passage, she insists that she was not alluding to him in her 2016 Republican response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech, when she called on Americans to resist “the siren call of the angriest voices.” It is always sad to see politicians lack the courage to say what should be said, but sadder still to see them speak up and later argue any courageous intent was misinterpreted. It didn’t have to be this way. No one forced Ms. Haley to accept Mr. Trump after he bragged about assaulting women in the “Access Hollywood” tape. No one forced her to defend the Confederate flag. No one forced her to assert Mr. Trump had “lost any sort of political viability” not long after the Capitol riot, then reverse herself, saying she “would not run if President Trump ran,” then prepare to challenge Mr. Trump for the nomination. There is nothing new or novel about an ambitious politician engaging in transactional politics, but that’s a rare trifecta of flip-flop-flip.
  • There is a great future behind Nikki Haley. She will never be the voice of truth she briefly was in 2016, and she will never be MAGA enough to satisfy the base of her party. But no one should feel sorry for Ms. Haley. It was her choice.
  • Just over a month ago, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said that the administration had “undeniable” evidence... available only to the United States intelligence community to prove her case. But the evidence fell significantly short. As I watched Ms. Haley... I wanted to play the video of Mr. Powell on the wall behind her, so that Americans could recognize instantly how they were being driven down the same path as in 2003 — ultimately to war. Only this war with Iran, a country of almost 80 million people whose vast strategic depth and difficult terrain make it a far greater challenge than Iraq, would be 10 to 15 times worse than the Iraq war in terms of casualties and costs... Though Ms. Haley’s presentation missed the mark, and no one other than the national security elite will even read the strategy, it won’t matter. We’ve seen this before: a campaign built on the politicization of intelligence and shortsighted policy decisions to make the case for war. And the American people have apparently become so accustomed to executive branch warmongering — approved almost unanimously by the Congress — that such actions are not significantly contested.
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