Can Journalists Handle My Candor About Nikki Haley's War on China?

Former South Carolina governor and Trump administration servant, Nikki Haley, had an op-ed in the WSJ last week that was a cracker called, “My Plan to Confront the China Threat.”

It’s part of her bid for the Republican nomination for president in 2024. Since 2021, Republicans have repeatedly said out loud that the only way they can differentiate themselves as they vie for political office—up and down the ticket—is by outbidding each other on China hawkery. Haley, more of a neocon on steroids than a nationalist militarist, is proof of that.

Haley’s op-ed lambasted Biden for being weak on China 🙄, but surprised a few people by also criticizing Trump for the same. She’s keeping her aim trained narrowly—she doesn’t want to alienate the same Trump-loving voters to whom she’s throwing red anti-China meat.

Haley claimed Trump didn’t go far enough on economic decoupling from China 🙄. She says he didn’t do enough to prepare for war with China, or to deter an invasion of Taiwan 🙄. And she said Trump “showed moral weakness” by being a sycophant to Xi Jinping and green lighting Uighur internment camps…ok, that’s true.

As sometimes happens, I got contacted by a journalist at a major outlet to offer my opinion about Haley’s “plan” to confront China and her shade-throwing at Trump. They didn’t use my quotes, which happens. When you see what they were, perhaps you’ll understand why.

This is what I said.