Nikki Haley Has an Impossible Tight-Rope to Walk if She Wants to One Day Become President

Nikki Haley, ambassador to the United Nations and one of the most admired women in the country, currently stands at unprecedented crossroads.

Until recently, the former South Carolina governor was perfectly positioned to mold U.S.-Russia relations for the foreseeable future, clearly departing from President Donald Trump’s relaxed attitudes toward the Kremlin with extraordinary independence. At times, it seemed as though Haley was operating on an island of her own; representing true U.S. interests and outlining a future for international policy, while her boss created daily scandals for himself back home.

Now, Trump and Haley’s separate worlds and ideologies have clashed, and each move she makes from this point on will ultimately factor into an even larger possibility for the ambassador: becoming president of the United States.

Haley is walking an incredible tightrope: if she continues taking a stance on Russia which does not satisfy the president or his agenda — demanding aggressive action over the country’s suspected involvement in a chemical weapons attack in Syria and the poisoning of a former spy and his daughter in the United Kingdom — she could suffer the same fate of the nation’s former top diplomat, ex-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Meanwhile, she’s flexing a unique ability as a Cabinet appointee in the Trump administration to speak out and appeal directly to the president when backed into a corner.

That was the case this week when the White House walked back her announcement on April 15 of forthcoming sanctions against Russia, with aide Larry Kudlow telling media there may have been “momentary confusion” over the matter. “She got ahead of the curve,” he told reporters. “She’s done a great job. She’s a very effective ambassador, but there might have been some momentary confusion about that.”

The ambassador very publicly shot back, telling Fox News in a statement that was broadcasted almost immediately after she got off the phone with the TV host: “With all due respect, I don’t get confused.”

Whether or not the punchy line was delivered to Trump’s favorite network as a strategic attempt at gaining the president’s favorability is unknown. However, it’s well-documented that the president monitors his appointees during TV appearances and public statements, often giving his support to those who appear “strong” and unrelenting.

This isn’t the first time she’s angered the president while speaking out at the U.N. Trump, whose openly joked about firing his ambassador, has reportedly previously yelled at his television over multiple statements he’s seen Haley make during her speeches at the U.N., and did so again on Sunday night when he heard of her announced sanctions. Perhaps he enjoyed Haley’s sharp comeback later on in the week.

Haley, a Republican from a family of Indian immigrants, has long hinted in a not-so-obvious way that she could be open to the possibility of running for president. Much like other White House hopefuls, she dances around the subject in interviews, despite keeping a close circle of longtime advisers and Washington insiders at each post throughout her political tenure. 

But one thing she’s never been coy about was her strong opinions and demands not to be micro-managed by Trump. “He knew that when he hired me, I made it clear that I don’t want to be a wallflower or talking head,” she said in a 2017 interview with CNN. “I’m a strong voice by nature, I’m sometimes a bull in a china shop, and he lets me do that.”

The White House now says Trump is still considering further sanctions against Russia. Kudlow walked back his own comments in an interview with the New York Times on Tuesday,  saying Haley “was certainly not confused.”

“I was wrong to say that — totally wrong,” he added.

On Wednesday, Haley walked past reporters who asked how her relationship has been with the president. “It’s perfect,” she responded, giving a smile and a thumbs up. Later, she maintained her stance against the Kremlin at the U.N. Security Council, saying “as we stated previously, the U.S. agrees with the U.K.’s assessment that Russia is responsible for the chemical weapons in Salisbury.”

Haley essentially has three possible outcomes in her current position; the first likely being her sincere intention as U.N. ambassador: remaining in her post and effectively promoting American interests, while punishing unjust actions from global players. That tightrope seems impossibly too thin to walk on for four years, and Haley has already encountered numerous pitfalls that come in working Trump. The second consists of her being removed from her role in the U.N. by the president after advocating for what she believed was the right thing to do.

Both of those provide her a far more favorable edge in a future presidential election than the third possible outcome: becoming another yes-man for the president and cowering to his lack of leadership against foreign adversaries, forever staining her reputation.

For now, it appears Haley would rather continue the balancing act of sating the president when possible, while continuing to promote U.S. interests — rather than conforming to his frenzied and haphazard foreign policy program. If and when she falls off the tightrope, however, she risks the worst of these outcomes: remaining in the administration and doing Trump’s bidding with a tattered reputation and no future political career.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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