One door closes, but another looks ajar

We may never know all the reasons why Nikki Haley announced her resignation this week, effective at the end of the year, as President Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations. The timing, less than a month before midterm elections seen by many as a referendum on Trump’s leadership, was not ideal for the president or his party. But we have no reason to doubt that Haley, a 46-year-old Republican twice elected governor of South Carolina and one of the most prominent women in the Trump administration, considered her ambassadorship ‘‘the honour of a lifetime’’. Nor do we doubt her sincerity when she touted the administration’s diplomatic and foreignpolicy achievements, including its ‘‘amazing’’ trade deals, stricter North Korean sanctions, taking on the UN’s ‘‘anti-Israel’’ bias and making the international organisation ‘‘stronger’’ and ‘‘more efficient’’ by cutting its budget by $1.3 billion.

We’ll leave it to the historians to decide Haley’s true motivations for stepping down, and whether clashes with the president over American ‘‘values and interests’’ played a role, including her unwavering support of human rights and the rights of refugees. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she’s long spoken of America as a ‘‘beacon of freedom‘‘.

Could that include a presidential run after 2020? We wouldn’t count it out.