Former Republican presidential nominee Nikki Haley put her contentious relationship with Donald Trump aside to encourage people to vote for him in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal – a final attempt to bolster support for the GOP nominee before Election Day.
Less than a year ago, Trump was calling Haley “bird brain” and on a national stage and theorizing her deployed husband purposefully left her. During the primaries, Trump said Haley “stinks,” called her an “imposter” and declared she is “not smart enough.”
Yet on Sunday, Haley penned the op-ed Trump Isn’t Perfect, but He’s the Better Choice in support of the former president’s re-election bid.
“I don’t agree with Mr. Trump 100% of the time. But I do agree with him most of the time, and I disagree with Ms. Harris nearly all the time. That makes this an easy call,” Haley wrote for the newspaper.
Haley listed widely-named concerns for Americans such as inflation, affordability, military readiness and more that she attributed failures by the Biden administration.
She said by comparison, Trump is “clearly the better choice” and asked voters who do not approve of Trump’s personality to put that aside to focus on his policy.
“For those of us clear-eyed enough to see Mr. Trump’s flaws and honest enough to acknowledge them, the question is whether we’re better off with his policies or his opponent’s. On taxes, spending, inflation, immigration, energy and national security, the candidates are miles apart,” Haley wrote.
Haley’s op-ed in favor of Trump has come a long way since the Republican primaries when she declined to endorse the former president the same day she dropped out of the race.
The two had a particularly contentious relationship while vying for Republicans’ support. Trump constantly launched insults at Haley, typically aimed at her intelligence. That was despite the fact Trump tapped Haley to be his ambassador to the United Nations while he was in the White House.
Haley, who was determined to run a more traditional conservative campaign than the alternative that has now become the MAGA Republican movement, eventually gave in and returned insults at Trump. She called him “vengeful”, “reckless” and “unhinged.” She warned Americans about a second Trump presidency.
But differences and disputes aside, Haley ultimately believes they’re on the same team and she’s willing to help out wherever she can, Haley told Fox News last week.
That doesn’t mean the former president is exempt from criticism. She recently scolded the Trump campaign for hosting a “bromance” rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City and warned that they’re not appealing to women well.
Trump’s former U.N. ambassador has seemingly taken a “forgive but not forget” mentality.
“You’re not going to hear me say glowing things about Donald Trump’s personality. I have issues with him, as well,” Haley told Sirius XM in September.
“I have not forgotten what he said about me. I’ve not forgotten what he said about my husband or his, you know, deployment time or his military service. I haven’t forgotten about his and his campaign’s tactics from, you know, putting a birdcage outside our hotel room to calling me ‘bird brain.”’
