Trump's main competitor

The former US Ambassador to the UN is gaining popularity and wants to become president. Who is she?

The US presidential election will be held in November 2024, and while everyone is expecting the confrontations of Biden and Trump, another candidate is gaining popularity in the Republican Party-ex-governor of South Carolina and former US Ambassador to Nickei Haley. How she took off in the ratings and whether she has a chance to win - the "cold" figured out.

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“I think that is why Margaret Thatcher said:“ If you want something to be said, ask a man. If you want something to be done, ask a woman, ”-so 51-year-old Nikki Haley said , the only woman, besides Indian origin, on the stage full of men who are more worthy to challenge Donald Trampu and take up the place and take up the place and take up the place Representative of the Republican Party in the upcoming presidential election in 2024.

Nikki Haley began a campaign as a candidate who is unlikely to gain more than a statistical error on primaries. This situation remained until mid-August, but after the debate on national television, the popularity of ex-governor of South Carolina began to grow. Many experts now put her in second place in the party list after Donald Trump. Theoretically, if the former president is not allowed to the election (which is still unlikely), Haley can take his place and defeat the republicans.

One of the 100 most influential

On June 24, 2015, standing surrounded by politicians and citizens of South Carolina, the Governor of Nikki Haley instructed to remove the flag of the Confederation from the Capitol, one of the main shrines of the South of the United States. A week before that, a 21-year-old white man and a supporter of the theory of racial superiority Dylan Ruf went to serve in the African methodist bishop’s church and shot nine people. During the investigation, it turned out that the killer previously posed with the flag of the Confederates. This caused a protest against the symbol of the conservative south in many states, including in the South Carolin itself.

Five years before shooting, Nikki Haley defended the flag and talked about his cultural significance. But, abandoning the symbol in time, she was able to resolve the conflict and entered the 100 most influential people in 2016 according to Time magazine. Even then, it became clear that Haley is a pragmatist, the political scientist and author of the telegram channel about the American policy One Big Union, Yan Veselov believes. “She has an understanding of where you need to go a little about the public mood, and not to occupy a fundamental radical position,” says Veselov “Cold”.

By that time, Nikki Haley has been in politics for more than 10 years - and she came to her from business.

Haley was born in the family of Sikh emigrants who settled in the small town of Bamberg South Carolina. From childhood, it stood out with its skin color. Her father and mother continued to wear Indian clothes even in the United States, and Nikki played the Indian princess Demakhontas in school performances, which caused ridicule of other children. As Haley recalls in his biography, it was then that the “parade of little boys dancing around me and making the battle cry of the American Indians” began.

At the age of 13, when she came from school, Haley was engaged in accounting for Exotica International - a clothing store of her mother. Things were going well, the store brought the Haley family out of poverty, and Nikki got the opportunity to enter the university.

After studying, she returned to the family business and joined the National Association of Women Entrepreneurs (NAWBO). It was communication with other participants in the association, as she writes in her book, that prompted her to political activity. In 2004, Haley went to run to the local parliament - the House of State Representatives.

Years after graduation from school, Haley used the experience of household racism. “I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants,” so Nikki Haley began her every speech during the election race for the post of Governor of South Carolina in 2010 and won the second round. Then she became the first American of Indian origin as the governor.

“I was always the only one. None of my works had a queue for a female toilet, ”Haley told about sexism in politics Politico. Gender Haley was actively used against her. During the election campaign, the post of Governor of South Carolina in Media discussed rumors that Haley entered into romantic relations for political benefits. Haley, recalling these events, said that this was the work of her competitors: "When they could not defeat me in an honest struggle, they did it."

At the post of governor, Haley worked for two terms and, except for a scandal with the flag of the Confederation, was remembered as a conservative republican politician who relies on the development of economics and education. In 2014, she signed a law that redistributed financing for education in areas with the highest poverty level and allocated money for reading trainers in schools. She also abandoned the unified standard of education, saying that she does not want to teach her children as “how they are taught in California.” When Nikki Haley left the governor’s post, 400 thousand people worked in South Carolina than before.

Ally/opponent of Trump

“Donald Trump is all that we hear and that we teach our children not to do in kindergarten,” Haley said on the eve of the 2016 presidential election, before the Republicans held primaries. In the struggle for the presidential chair, Haley decided to support Marco Rubio, a senator from Florida and also a native of the immigrant family. Haley harshly criticized Donald Trump, but at the end she surrendered and also voted for him.

“This is a political relationship. Relations of Haley and Trump are archetypal, in them you can see the whole history of the Republican Party over the past eight years, ”the Researcher of the Guaurovo Institute in Stanford Sergey Sanovich explains to the“ cold ”. - Not only Haley, but also other prominent members of the party first with laughter, and then with horror spoke of Trump. When he became the president, they began to work for him: who of the career reasons, of which of the ideological. ”

After a couple of months, Haley was rewarded for effective work in South Carolin: President Donald Trump called her to work in his administration as an ambassador of the United States to the UN.

American, candidate of historical sciences Alexander Filippenko describes Haley’s work as the ambassador as the ambassador: “She was distinguished by super -high professionalism, a clear adherence to the White House line. At the same time, she always remained for me an independent figure, separate from many in the Trump administration. And this is a great merit, especially considering which president was Donald Trump. ”

Haley helped Trump to leave the Paris Climate Agreement (which the United States returned to Bayden), from a nuclear deal with Iran, and also supported the US exit from the Human Rights Council (also returned under Bayden). However, unlike many, she was not afraid to argue with Trump. Thus, despite the emphasized isolationist position of the president, Haley actively advocated sanctions against Russia due to invasion of Syria (which were blocked by the White House), supported Israel and criticized the concentration camps for Uyghurs in China, with which Trump waged trade wars.

True, her position was not always consistent

As the daughter of an immigrant, she stated that the so -called Muslim Ban Donald Trump would never support. In 2015, Donald Trump, while still presidential candidate, called for completely closing the entrance to the country for all Muslims. In the future, this turned into a law complicating the entry for citizens of some mainly Muslim countries. Haley opposed a ban on the entrance, but in the end she softened her position, explaining that the proposed decision was not as strict as expected.

Haley still believes that the United States should actively participate in international politics. Having announced the nomination of his candidate for the presidency, Haley repeatedly emphasized the importance of the US presence in Israel and continuing the support of Ukraine. “The victory of Ukraine is the victory of all of us. <...> This support is needed to prevent [world] war, ”said Haley.

“Foreign policy is its strength. Due to the experience of the ambassador, she went around other candidates in this strange campaign in front of the primaries. She has experience both on the national and on the world political stage, unlike competitors, ”says Sergey Sanovich.
After Haley left the ambassador in October 2018 in the editorial column, the New York Times called it "the rarest of Trump's appointments: a person who can leave the administration, retaining his dignity to a large extent."

In the search for identity

True, Haley left her post due to accusations of corruption. The day before the resignation, on October 8, 2018, the anti-corruption group “Citizens for responsibility and ethics in Washington” said that, being at the post, Haley accepted a trip to business jets as gifts from businessmen of South Carolina.

Haley has repeatedly criticized her proximity to elites and for her campaigns are financed by large businessmen. According to critics, this can lead to the fact that, having won, she will lobby for the interests of her donors. Another candidate from the Republicans, a businessman Viveku by the Ramasva during the next debate called her “corrupt” - however, the hall responded to these accusations with a disapproving buzz.

But Haley has another weak place: like other candidates, she does not criticize Donald Trump. The experts with whom the cold spoke, they talk about a unique situation in this election, where almost all candidates are afraid to attack the ex-president.

“They are in a dual position. On the one hand, they need to criticize Trump, because if not criticized, then why vote for them, if there is a Trump, so beautiful. On the other hand, candidates understand that Trump is still a popular figure among the Republicans, and if you press it too much on it, then many Republican voters turn away from them, ”explains political scientist Jan Veselov. -We see this according to the former governor of New Jersey Chris Christie, who, in fact, built his entire campaign precisely on criticism of Trump. This is reflected in rather low ratings for him. ”

A researcher at the Guver Institute in Stanford Sergey Sanovich also agrees with him: “The current election race is very strange: it is actually a struggle for the second place. The main candidate is not only inaccessible, he does not even participate in the debate and, moreover, proposed to cancel them, believing that he had actually won. ”

For a dream

In 2021, the journalist Politico asked Haley if it seemed to her that she would be able to do the work of the president. Haley, without hesitation, replied: "Yes, of course."

Over a few months of the election campaign, Haley has already turned from an obvious outsider into one of the leaders of the race. Of course, she is far from Trump's ratings, but she is increasingly gaining support for voters and some governors .

Against the backdrop of the rest of the candidates, Nikki Haley, according to the experts of the “cold”, stands out by its moderation. One of the key differences in Haley is the willingness to agree, including with the Democrats. This can be seen in the example of one of the hottest topics in the election campaign of all candidates is the right to abortion. Haley supports abortion restrictions, but criticized the decision of Judge Texas, who advocated the ban on the drug for termination of pregnancy. Haley said that she "does not want the indifferent judges to solve something so personal." In her campaign, shefocuses on the fact that it is necessary to achieve “national consent” on this issue, and indicates the need to more widely spread contraception.

“She seeks to take a more moderate position, because neither the electorate will support any strict prohibitions, nor purely politically this is impossible at the federal level. Some voters are attracted by such a moderate image, ”says Veselov.

Nevertheless, the experts evaluate the chances of Haley carefully. “The field of competitors should be cleaned gradually. Less popular candidates should leave and call on to vote for it, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, something should happen to Trump in terms of electoral ratings. But so far it is not very clear that this can be, except for the verdict of the court. But he will have to wait for him for so long that by that time it may be too late, ”says Veselov.

Alexandra Filippenko looks at Haley's chances more optimistic. In her opinion, "at the moment, American politics has such a feature that completely unexpected turns can occur that will change the whole situation."

While Trump looks like an unconditional favorite, but Haley has money and a little time to change the situation in his favor. Given that there is, although minimal, but the chance that Donald Trump will not fall into the Colorado Bulletin. On December 19, the court in Colorado ruled that the state authorities do not have the right to register Trump as a candidate for primaries. However, he has the opportunity to appeal, and experts are sure that he will use it.

Experts agree that the growth of the popularity of Nikki Haley and its possible election mean the return of the Republican Party to their former, “Dotrampovsky” state.

“She looks like a politician of Bushev. Her foreign policy is “democracies among themselves are not fighting, so let everyone be democracies,” said Americanist Filippenko. - And if we are talking about “making America again the great”, then it is more than Trump, fits the personification of this phrase. Not in a populist sense, but in the actual. "