Nikki Haley – The Jeff Flake Of Foreign Policy
The general media consensus is that Nikki Haley is one of the few Trump administration officials to leave relatively unscathed and with her reputation still intact. I guess when the bar for that accolade is that you haven’t been accused of selling your office to enrich yourself or accused of assault or lying to the FBI, it’s not to hard to hurdle it. And reportedly underreporting the costs of trips she took along with her husband on the private jets of three South Carolina businessmen is simply standard procedure for this administration so nothing to be concerned about.
Haley’s biggest claim to fame is that she was a never-Trumper who went to work for the administration. And the job of UN Ambassador gave her some freedom and insulation from the other daily atrocities of the Trump administration and also allowed her to sound like a beacon of justice and truth by confronting some of world’s worst strongmen.
In many ways, however, Haley is the Jeff Flake of foreign policy. She can give nice speeches but then help implement the worst of Trump’s agenda. In the UN, that includes endorsing the move of the US embassy to Jerusalem and pulling funding for the UNRWA, both blatant and brazen efforts to provoke the Palestinians. It meant pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal over the objections of every other partner in that deal. It meant withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council. It meant going along with the administration’s attack International Criminal Court and threatening its justices for having the temerity to want to investigate American abuses in the Afghan war. And, worst of all, it meant withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement. I know these may be conservative shibboleths, but it is certainly not a record to be proud of nor is it a record of a “moderate”.
Haley is reportedly in some financial distress, so it would make sense for her to take some high-paying private sector job as she decides what her next political step might be. But I continue to believe that Haley will eventually fill Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat after he decides to take the Attorney General job after the midterms. Whether Haley is appointed to that seat later this year or runs for it in 2020 after a temporary appointment who will commit not to run in 2020 is made is anyone’s guess. And then Nikki Haley can once again reprise her Jeff Flake role, this time in the US Senate.
