Nikki Haley, who was the first prominent Republican to announce a challenge to former President Donald J. Trump in the 2024 race, has yet to see her presidential campaign ignited. On Sunday night, she got another chance to defend her candidacy during a 90-minute prime-time CNN town hall in an effort to break out of the low single-digit polls she’s been mired in.
Mrs. Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and ambassador to the United Nations under Mr. Trump, she was well versed in political matters, she was optimistic and even. While he drew contrasts with Mr. Trump, he dodged opportunities to make him (or even President Biden) into a political punching bag.
At the end of the night, an audience member praised her demeanor as “a breath of fresh air,” earning applause from the packed house of Iowa Republicans. But that also meant there were few gunfight moments that could win Ms. Haley headlines and a fresh look from primary voters, who now face a growing field of Republicans who are in the running — or soon they will come in—. .
On policies both foreign (like Ukraine) and domestic (like Social Security), Ms. Haley’s positions were a throwback to the typical positions of the Republican Party before its populist takeover by Mr. trump His reasoned manner was also an anomaly in a race where Mr. Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida are competing with displays of dominance. Both of these factors have made Ms. Haley, the only woman in the Republican race, also run so far.
Here are some takeaways from Sunday night’s event.
It was very different from Trump’s town hall.
Compared to CNN’s explosive and much-criticized town hall event with Mr. Trump last month, this was a throwback to earlier, less combative times. There was no torrent of fact-checking, no booing of the audience from the stage, and no hard-hitting questioning of the candidate. Jake Tapper, the anchor who moderated, never felt the need to correct Ms. Haley.
Trump and DeSantis remain the focus.
The two big red elephants in the room, Mr. Trump and Mr. DeSantis, were mostly mentioned indirectly, but these two Republican presidential candidates were present nonetheless. Ms. Haley repeated her position that to save Social Security and Medicare, it would be necessary to raise the retirement age for young workers and limit benefits for the wealthy. Both Mr. Trump as Mr. DeSantis, who previously supported similar changes, now say they won’t touch the programs.
“I think it’s important to be honest with the American people,” said Ms. Haley. “We are in this situation. Don’t lie to them and say, “Oh, we don’t have to deal with entitlement reform.” Yes, we do.”
Ms. Haley also criticized Mr. DeSantis for his attacks on Disney as a “woke” company. She had nothing to do with the Florida governor’s criticism of Disney’s opposition to what critics call his “Don’t Say Gay” law, and even said he would have gone beyond that law to prevent gender and sexuality from being discussed in schools. But he called Mr. DeSantis a “hypocrite” for accepting tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions from Disney before turning on the company and for using taxpayer dollars to sue it. “Take the phone deal with that,” he said. “Remember it as you should, and I just think she’s being hypocritical.”
Haley tried to find the sweet spot for Republicans on social issues.
On social issues like abortion, gun restrictions and transgender rights, which animate much of the Republican voting base, Ms. Haley took a conservative line. He advocated, for example, leading the US withdrawal from the Paris climate accord while at the United Nations. (President Biden joined the deal in 2021.) But he displayed less punitive rhetoric on the issues that Mr. Trump and Mr. DeSantis have made crucial to their messages.
Ms. Haley digressed on whether she supported a federal ban on six-week abortions like the one her home state of South Carolina recently passed. Any national restrictions, he said, would require the approval of 60 senators, which he said was so remote that the issue barely merited consideration.
In the most exciting moment of the night, Ms. Haley described how she persuaded reluctant South Carolina Republican lawmakers to remove the Confederate battle flag from the state Capitol after a white supremacist massacre of black worshipers at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston on 2015
He agreed with the banning of transgender girls from school sports and even seemed to suggest that allowing “biological boys” in girls’ locker rooms was linked to the high rate of teenagers who have considered the suicide
At the same time, he acknowledged that “we have to be humane” with transgender children. In South Carolina schools, when she was governor, Ms. Haley, the principals were making them en-suite accommodations. “They were safe, and most of the student body didn’t even have to deal with it,” he said.
Haley drew a sharp contrast with Trump and DeSantis on foreign policy.
Ms. Haley also found differences with Mr. Trump and Mr. DeSantis on foreign policy issues, as he has in the past. The former ambassador of the United Nations disputed Mr. DeSantis, who has called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a “territorial dispute” — a characterization he has since backed off — and dismissed Mr. Trump to say whether Ukraine should win the war.
He said both positions represented naive trust in Russian President Vladimir V. Putin. “If Ukraine withdraws,” said Ms. Haley, “then we’re all looking at a world war.”
Asked by Mr. Tapper on congratulating Mr. Trump to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for his recent promotion to a leadership role at the World Health Organization, Ms. Haley called Mr. Kim, whose flattering letters Mr. Trump once praised, a “brat.”
“There is no reason why we should ever congratulate the fact that they are now vice-presidents of the World Health Organization,” said Ms. Haley.
