Nikki Haley Resigning as U.S. Ambassador to U.N.

Why? That's anyone's guess.

Lev Radin / Pacific Press/Newscom

Nikki Haley is stepping down as the United States ambassador to the United Nations.

Axios' Jonathan Swan was the first to report the news. According to Swan, Haley told Trump she wanted to resign during a conversation with him last week. Citing two sources with knowledge of their conversation, Swan said Trump accepted her resignation. The "news shocked a number of senior foreign policy officials in the Trump administration," Swan reported.

Swan's report was soon confirmed by Trump. Speaking from the Oval Office this morning, Trump told reporters that Haley would be leaving the administration "at the end of the year." Haley is a "very special" person, Trump said, adding that they "solved a lot of problems" together.

So why is Haley stepping down? No one seems to know. The former Republican governor of South Carolina has been known to clash with Trump's views on several issues. She admitted as much in a September op-ed for The Washington Post, but explained that she tries to talk to Trump when she disagrees with him. "If I disagree with something and believe it is important enough to raise with the president, I do it," she wrote at the time.

This post has been updated with President Trump's comments from the Oval Office confirming the Axios report.

Comments

[Don't look at me!]

Would.

[Zeb]

Heh. Beat me to it.

[Standards]

I long for the days when people had me.

[Woody Chip Hurrrrr?]

So when the squirrels double up your posts .....

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

Give her a short haircut and you're fucking Tom Cruise. YMMV.

[loveconstitution1789]

If the media would not be such cucks, maybe Nikki Haley or Trump would say why.

[Ken Shultz]

He absolutely undermined her and made her look completely foolish on more than one occasion.

Here he did it on Russia and Syria.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/wh.....1523996277

Here they are doing it on Iran.

http://thehill.com/homenews/su.....-change-in

Trump and Haley also contradicted each other on Jerusalem.

If she's been cut out of the inner circle, getting bad direction from the White House, or just getting undermined in public after being cleared to make a decision, those are all good reasons to leave.

She made a respectable showing anyway. She's an even stronger candidate for president (or vice president) now that she has both executive experience as a governor and foreign policy experience. Leaving after the midterms makes a ton of sense.

[loveconstitution1789]

Some people use the negotiation tactic of sending someone to say one thing and the boss saying another.

It gets the other party to sometimes tip their hand.

It only works for so long, as other parties get wise.

I think Nikki Haley did a decent job and cannot think of failures on her part. Trump has a high pressure administration along with every Lefty and Lefty propagandists coming after you.

[MikeP2]

I disagree that he undermined her. Miscommunications? Maybe. Deception ploys? Maybe. But there never seemed to be any sense of significant distance in their positions or lastly issues. I think its telling thatshe was the one the wrote the sourcing rebuttal on that anonymous opinion piece.

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

There is another possibility: if you believe that anonymous letter from back a few weeks ago is legitimate, there are some people within Trump's own administration who are "resisting" him and refusing to carry out his desired policies.

There is a chance that she could possibly be one of those people (though she went out of her way to publicly deny it).

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

My impression was Haley never liked playing fifth fiddle to Trump. Her brain is obviously on a different level. Unfortunately it's a neocon level. She is Team Red's version of Kamala Harris.

[JoeBlow123]

Hahah. Maybe she is a neocon, but she seems like an allright person to me.

[OpenBordersLiberal-tarian]

Recall that, as Harvard's Professor Tribe has noted, Putin controls this administration to such an extent that important personnel decisions are dictated by the Kremlin. For example, the last Secretary of State change occurred because Tillerson was no longer willing to do Russia's bidding. So they just installed someone who would.

That must be what's going on here. I wouldn't call myself a fan of Haley, but she must have done something to upset Vlad. Her replacement will undoubtedly be a Russian stooge.

#TrumpRussia

[Don't look at me!]

Very good. B+

[Dillinger]

>>>Russian stooge

Iggy Popanov

[BestUsedCarSales]

Iggy Popov was a missed opportunity.

[Gilbert Martin]

I give this one a C.

A little bit over the top.

[darkflame]

Unfortunate, Haley and Mattis are the 2 folks I trusted in Trump's govt (Although that might just be the bias speaking for Haley, I grew up in SC ). Still, I'd vote for her if she ran for president.

[MikeP2]

Prediction:

Trump isnt running again, and Haley is on the shortlist to be the candidate. Trump will spend the next two years building the foundation for a Haley presidency, utterly destroying the proggy war-on-women talking points and securing dominance of his america first world view for at least another decade.

It may not be 6d chess, but denying that Trump has not been actively playing the dem/msm and building the long-game is ridiculous. No one wins this much by just blundering along.

[darkflame]

Interesting theory. I don't really see Trump as the sort of guy to share the spotlight or care what happens after he leaves, but you could be on to something. I definitely agree with your last bit though.

[MikeP2]

I think dthe key difference is that we are used to career politicians, whose sole goal is to stay in office. With trump, who knows what he wants? Even if he is the worst of what is assumed....a self aggrandizing narcissist only in it for the personal profit, then would he not be better off bailing after 1 term and leveraging the status for fame and profit? Apprentice 2.0, the west wing saga, etc etc. it wouldnt be about sharing the spotlight or stepping aside...it would be about going out on top to the next big thing.

Or another way to look at it.... does anyone believe the dems wont pull out all stops to prevent a second term. The first election took everyone by surprise. Now...they are ready for trump. Its guaranteed to be ugly, and if the economy is good, it wont be policy...it will be 100% personal. They certainly are sitting on scandals for the campaign year....no way trump doesnt have skeletons to dig up. By not running, Trump wins again, by walking away and avoiding the issues.

[Cynical Asshole]

More likely she's resigning now so that Trump can replace Pence with her in 2020. At least, I think that's a more likely nth dimensional chess move, if that's what this is, which it probably isn't. She probably just wanted to move on for "personal reasons," whatever they may be.

[JoeBlow123]

Yeah the only way Trump does not run in 2020 is if he croaks.

[Delius]

She got tired of her boss undermining her? She got tired of her boss' love affairs with murderous dictators? She got tired of seeing her boss, an admitted sexual predator, mock the victims of sexual assault?

So many good choices.

[Fancylad]

The whole world must look like a Hieronymus Bosch nightmare inside your fevered brain.

[BestUsedCarSales]

That's pretty rad, if true.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

My take is she got what she wanted out of the job, foreign policy experience. Staying any longer doesn't get her extra credit points, and staying increases her chances of getting sucked into a scandal whether real or just some anti Trump bs. Best to leave now if she wants to continue her political career.

[mad.casual]

I read similar.

The punch-and-judy routine may be played out at the UN. She may just hate working at the UN, etc. Unless you expect to wind up Sec. Gen., the job isn't normally a lifetime achievement.

[Jerryskids]

According to Swan, Haley told Trump she wanted to resign during a conversation with him last week.

According to Trump, Haley told him 6 months ago she was planning on leaving so he knew all along about this "surprise" announcement but he's very good at keeping secrets. Or he's lying about how much he knows about absolutely everything, even in the most petty of matters, but that doesn't sound at all like Donald J. Trump. Must be that Fake News Media once again trying to make Trump look bad by not knowing what's going on in every aspect of his administration when the fact of the matter is Trump knows every time the White House second junior assistant janitor scratches his ass.

[Fancylad]

Axios called it a surprise, but it doesn't mean it was.
The news "shocking" anonymous officials is standard weasel word journalism used whenever there's an agenda to fulfill.

The only thing that makes the resignation surprising is Axios claiming so.

[Jeep's Blues]

Nikki Haley came across as a straight shooter to me, no nonsense, averse to the victim card, competent. I'll be curious to know if her reasons are political or personal.

I also feel she would beat just about any candidate proferred by the current Democrats if she ever considered running for the presidency.

[creech]

How politically tone deaf is Haley? How does it help the GOP's chances in Nov., or her chances in the future, by announcing this now and not after Nov. 6th? Why can't the GOP stop shooting itself in the foot immediately after a victory?

[Red Tony]

How does it hurt the GOP's chances? Honestly curious here.

[creech]

More apparent chaos in the Trump ranks. Heard speculation on radio already that she is the author of that anonymous hit piece in the NYT. Progs will now be saying she is a rational, calm, etc. etc. and could no longer stand working for a nut case who will continue to piss off the U.S.' allies. Not too difficult to see how this could be spun and all unnecessary if she waited until Nov. 7th.

[Bubba Jones]

Maybe it is the U.N. she is quitting and not just Trump.

Maybe she got a sweet think tank gig that pays 10x.

[Ken Shultz]

Here's an idea of who should replace her:

*drum roll*

Melania!

Think about it.

[Unicorn Abattoir]

Ivanka would be more likely than Melania. And neither is likely.

[MikeP2]

Haley 2020, with trump as un ambassador. I cant think of anything more fun to watch

[Pro Libertate]

The U.S. is withdrawing from the U.N.?

[Vondy]

My thought: she's being smart.

She's 46, has experience as a state legislator, a governor, and now UN ambassador. She has legislative, administrative, and foreign policy experience on her resume. If she is thinking about the Oval Office in 2024, and I am sure she is, adding a higher level economic (business) position to her resume is in her interests.

She's leaving before the mid-terms in a telegraphed way that will land her a job before (should the dems retake congress) the market is flooded with staffers / officials looking for work. She's leaving while she's up and soon enough to put distance between her Trump time and a run, but not so much distance as to be forgotten.

Her kids are headed for college. Increased income from the private sector will help (not that she's hurting). They should be done by 2024. She'll be 52. She's charismatic, intelligent, competent, tough, fashionable, and good looking. I have little doubt she knows it and knows stepping aside now sets up her shot.

[JoeBlow123]

Agreed. Plus, lets be honest here, she is a minority and a woman in a party not exactly known for its diverse nature, all bonus points.

[John B. Egan]

According to recent reports, I can see any one of three possible reasons... Or perhaps like lots of things in life, a combination of them:

- Trump wants Ivanka in the UN to give her some background and polish her up to run in future elections.

- Nikki Haley, like pretty much all of Trump's administration, has been caught taking gifts from individuals.. Notably free lights in private aircraft.

- Nikki has butted heads with Trump on several issues and lost. She is no longer considered 'loyal' to Trump... which is a greater sin than being loyal to the interests of 325 million Americans according to the GOP.

- Nikki Haley is supposedly $12 million dollars in debt as a result of this position, and clearly has not learned how to file bankruptcy, stiff the taxman, or screw over investors and lenders from Trump.

Take your pick!

[DrZ]

Nikki Haley has balls and is exactly the kind of person needed to represent the United States at the U.N.

[Gasherbrum]

Why would she quit? How could anyone competent bear staying longer?

[Chipper Jonze]

Speaking of n-dimensional chess:

Sessions is out as AG. Lindsey Graham is in. SC needs a new senator...?

Now she's really padding a resume for a POTUS run in '24.