Nikki Haley seems to be in good graces
WASHINGTON : Nikki Haley didn’t wait to take office as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to break with the Trump administration’s foreign policy stances.
At her Senate confirmation hearing, Haley bluntly accused Russia of being complicit of war crimes in Syria — going against the president-elect’s talk of warmer relations with Moscow.
Three months later, she remains boldly off-message. Much to the chagrin of Washington diplomats, her remarks often go well beyond the carefully worded scripts crafted by the White House and State Department.
She’s warned Syrian President Bashar Assad that “the days of your arrogance and disregard of humanity are over,” even as other top aides to President Donald Trump insisted that his fate was a decision for the Syrian people.
She’s pushed human rights as a driver of foreign policy just as the Trump administration showed its willingness to work with leaders who have suppressed civil liberties, such as Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Egypt’s Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi.
US diplomats fear Haley’s words could result in an inconsistent, incoherent international message. State Department diplomats drafted an email urging Haley’s office to ensure that her public statements on high-profile issues are cleared by Washington. In some ways, Haley has been ahead of the curve. Her hints at a change in the Syrian government are now seeping into Trump policies, and the administration has toughened its stance on Russia.
She seems to be in Trump’s good graces. At a White House luncheon for UN diplomats last week, he said Haley was doing a “fantastic job” — but only after awkwardly joking that if the diplomats didn’t like her, “she could easily be replaced.”
Haley, a rookie to international politics, was an unusual pick for to be UN envoy.