On her way out, Haley takes jabs at Trump
WASHINGTON : With the weight of UN ambassadorship nearly off her shoulders, Nikki Haley seems ready to speak her mind and have some laughs.
She poked fun at herself, her Indian roots and her boss, President Donald Trump, at a New York annual dinner on Thursday, at which chief guests are expected to skewer themselves and others. So she did, taking aim at Trump’s last UN speech and his controversial immigration policy.
On a serious note, Haley delivered a sharp rebuke of Trump’s divisive politics, saying opponents are not evil.
Setting up her speech, she said many people called to advise her on what she should say. One common suggestion was: “Do not, under any circumstances, make any jokes about the president.”
Haley, who recently announced she will leave her post at the end of the year, proceeded to do just that. “The president called me this morning and gave some really good advice. If I get stuck for laughs just brag about his accomplishments,” Haley said, to laughs.
“It really killed at the UN, I’ve got to tell you,” she continued, and added, with a chuckle, “There has been some debate whether the UN laughed with the president or at the president.”
The UN General Assembly had burst into laughter — some said mockingly — when Trump began his speech by claiming his administration was the most successful in US history. Trump, who has shown he cannot take a joke at his expense, insisted later world leaders had laughed with him.
Haley continued, with Trump still in her cross-hairs. In an obvious jab at Trump’s crackdown on legal and illegal immigration and forced separation of families and deportations, she brought up her Indian roots. Her parents, she said, are immigrants from India — “legal immigrants”, she stressed.