Race for US Presidential Nomination
Nikki Haley wants to defeat her ex-boss Trump and relies on her high heels
Wednesday, 02/15/2023 | 19:15
Nikki Haley wants to move to the White House. The 51-year-old officially announced her candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination via video on Tuesday. The former governor of South Carolina and former UN ambassador emphasized that the party urgently needs a generational change.
“I am the proud daughter of Indian migrants – not black, not white,” Haley said in her video. Her parents are from the Punjab region of India. South Carolina native Nimrata Nikki Randhawa took her husband Michael Haley’s surname upon their marriage in 1996. Since then her name has been Nikki Haley and she converted from the Sikh faith to Christianity.
“In seven of the last eight presidential elections, Republicans lost the popular vote,” Haley warned in the video message. (The ‘Popular Vote’ in the US is the total number of votes cast.) “That has to change.” Haley called for a “new generation of leaders” – a jab not just against 80-year-old Joe Biden, but against him as well 76-year-old Donald Trump. Spicy: Trump had nominated her as UN ambassador at the time.
“When I step back, it hurts even more with high heels”
“Left socialists see an opportunity to rewrite history,” she continues. “China and Russia are on the rise. They all think we let ourselves be bullied and trampled on. You should know one thing about me: I don’t put up with anything. And when I step back, it hurts even more in high heels.”
Haley’s references to her heels are nothing new. In earlier political speeches, the Republican has emphasized countless times: “I don’t want to make a fashion statement with my high heels. I carry them for ammunition.”
Advertisement
Haley called Trump embarrassing
She didn’t mention her former boss in the video. Haley’s relationship with the former president is considered complicated. In early 2016, she called Donald Trump an embarrassment and criticized his reluctance to condemn white far-right extremists. “I will not give up until we fight a man who will not distance himself from the Ku Klux Klan,” she said of Trump in 2016. “We don’t want someone like that as President. We will not allow that in our country.” Almost a year later, she joined his cabinet.
“Trump disappointed us,” Haley lamented after the storming of the Capitol – only to announce a little later: “I would not run against President Trump.” He stressed just last month: “She said she would never run against me, because I was the greatest president ever. But people change their minds and what’s in their hearts changes too. So I said to her: If your heart tells you to run, then you have to do it. I wish her the best of luck.”
Love affair between Haley and Trump?
Haley has always denied rumors of an affair with her former boss. In his bestselling book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, Michael Wolff reported on an alleged love affair between Haley and Trump.
Before she became South Carolina’s first woman governor, she received support from high-profile Republicans like Mitt Romney, as well as John McCain and Sarah Palin during the 2010 election campaign. Haley also won her second gubernatorial race and remained in office until 2017.
In her first campaign, Haley was close to the right-wing Republican wing of the Tea Party. But to the annoyance of the Tea Party, she later supported the aircraft manufacturer Boeing with state subsidies. Haley was both an insider and an outsider of her party – but always deliberately optimistic. As governor, she ordered her employees to answer every call with “It’s a great day in South Carolina.” She also repeated the “Great Day” motto in her video message.
Haley is still far behind in polls
But in recent polls, Haley is still far behind Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the race for the nomination. Their popularity ratings have so far been in the single digits. In addition to many other possible candidates, Trump’s probably biggest rival DeSantis is also waiting for his candidacy to be announced. According to campaign experts, Haley’s head start in campaign fundraising efforts could give her a head start.
Jaime Harrison, chairman of the Democratic National Organizing Committee, is also from South Carolina, like Haley. The politician doesn’t impress him much. It hardly differs from Trump, he said in a statement. “Your entry into the race heralds the start of a dirty primary campaign for Trump’s 2024 core voters. Anyone can get their popcorn.”