Nikki Haley: “I will be voting for Trump”

In an appearance at the Hudson Institute on Wednesday, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley was asked which of the two major presidential candidates would do a better job in the White House. She listed her policy positions, such as supporting U.S. allies, securing the southern border, and lowering the national debt, then said, “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.”

It was Haley’s first public speech since she suspended her presidential campaign on March 6 and the first time she expressed support for Trump’s current presidential bid. Audience members gasped audibly when she said she would vote for Trump, and they applauded when she called on the former president to do more to appeal to the moderates who supported her campaign.

“Trump would be smart to reach out to the millions of people who voted for me and continued to support me and not just assume they’re just going to be with him,” she said.

Haley, the incoming Walter P. Stern chair at the Hudson Institute, argued in her speech for U.S. support for Israel and Ukraine. She called Biden a failed leader but also disagreed with Trump’s foreign policy, which she characterized as isolationist. She called Russia, Iran, and China a new axis of evil that is plotting the destruction of democracy. She praised House Speaker Mike Johnson for helping pass a security supplemental aid bill. But Haley also criticized Republicans for not fully supporting Ukraine, and President Joe Biden for withholding an aid shipment from Israel. She argued that both countries are significant for global peace. She announced an upcoming trip to Israel “very soon” and called the International Criminal Court “disgusting” for issuing a warrant for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.