Nikki Haley: Birdbrain or Neocon?
Yes, I wrote about Nikki Haley again. No, people did not like it, but they did talk about it and click on it, so that’s good, right?
Check out my most recent article here.
It’s funny so many out there peg me as a Haley or Reagan stan, but I am just an unrepresented citizen looking for better leadership. Some call my vision wish casting, but I am highlighting the best conservative model available. Haley isn’t perfect, but at least she tries to maintain principles. People are welcome to disagree, but simply saying, “It won’t happen,” or she is this or that, is silly. American politics is full of complex figures, redemption stories, and underdog successes. After all, America is an underdog story.
A lot of people out there have this image of Haley as a neocon or a trump supporter, but she is really neither of those things. She does take a strong stance on national defense, but she does not advocate war as a means to spread democracy as the neocons of the George W. Bush era did. She did serve in Trump’s administration and reluctantly and passively supported his 2024 campaign, but she has stood against Trump while other conservatives have caved to him.
When she is interviewed by the media, the focus is usually on Trump. She isn’t given a chance to explain herself, and it allows her adversaries like Trump to cast her policies in a negative light. She has to fight for a seat at the table while the media rolls out the red carpet for Trump. On the left, they air campaign stop after campaign stop, cover tweet after tweet, and on the right, they let Trump call in whenever he wants, handle him with kid gloves, allowing him to ramble on and on.
Could Haley be better? Yes.
She should better explain the history behind her positions on the economy and foreign policy. America has been a global leader in these areas for over a century, but we are not perfect. Haley should explain what she thinks we’ve done right, how we can repair past mistakes, and why her vision is the best next step for the country.
Most people who talk about Haley don’t know who she is. They only know what others say about her. She is not a neocon, not in the John Bolton sense, at least. She is a former accountant, legislator, and a mom of two.
Who is Nikki Haley?
Haley was born in South Carolina in 1972 to immigrant parents. Her parents were well-educated and teachers; her father taught at a nearby college, and her mother taught sixth-grade social studies. Together, they opened a successful fashion boutique, which they ran for 32 years. Haley began her accounting experience for her parent’s small business when she was just 13. She later attended Clemson University and graduated with an accounting degree.
Her first job out of college was working as an accounting supervisor at a local recycling company. Haley began her political career by winning a seat in the South Carolina State House of Representatives in 2004, where she advocated for lower taxes and immigration reforms. In her second year she was nominated majority whip. Later, challenging the speaker of the house, she was removed from her leadership duties. In 2010, she rode the Tea Party wave to become South Carolina governor, where she used her financial and legislative experience to get the state’s debt under control. She went on to work for the Trump administration as an ambassador to the UN and later was the last person standing against Trump in the 2024 primary elections.
Who is Nikki Haley? Did she bend the knee to Trump? Is she a RINO, Neocon, warmonger? Is she the next Ronald Reagan?
The answer is no; she is none of those things. She is an upper-middle-class American who, with the help of parents who taught her the value of hard work, made her way to the top. She is much closer to the average American family than a billionaire playboy and his friends of tech bros.
Donald Trump calls her “Birdbrain,” and John Bolton says she is a “free election.” I compared her to Reagan. But Nikki Haley is Nikki Haley. She understands how to make nice and build complicated relationships. She is an excellent communicator and handles herself with class and dignity. Haley is an independent, thoughtful leader who takes nuanced positions that frustrate simple-minded, power-hungry figures like Trump and Bolton. She doesn’t back down or abandon her post.
Trump is the little boy in the back of the classroom who pays others to do his homework; when he gets in trouble, he asks Daddy to bail him out. Haley is the little girl sitting in the front of the classroom, doing her homework in class so she can rush out in time for her shift at her parent’s local small business. Unfortunately, the media chooses to prop up the delinquent over the devoted citizen, but that’s what it’s like living in a republic of elites.
If American citizens want representation, we must listen to figures who understand the average American life. We can’t allow the media to shape a false perception. We must hold the elites accountable for their bad leadership and raise a model our children can follow. Trump’s behavior has proven he is not that model. Haley could be, but my bigger point is she deserves an honest chance to prove it.
I joked at the beginning that no one liked my article, but that isn’t really true. Negativity is often just louder than positivity. The article received far more likes than it did negative comments.
Thank you for all the support and positivity!
If you really want to help, then focus on representation. Give my last article a read and share. Try to make it go as viral as the Haley article did.
Peace & Love,
Jeff Mayhugh