Haley should take a study break
President-elect Donald Trump reportedly has refused offers from the White House of daily classified intelligence briefings. We hope Gov. Nikki Haley is savvy enough to accept any help she can get in preparing for the challenging post of United Nations ambassador.
The Washington Post reports that a team of intelligence analysts has been prepared to deliver daily briefings on global issues and security threats to Trump during the two weeks since he won. So far, however, he has attended only two briefings.
By contrast, Vice President-elect Mike Pence has arranged to attend nearly all of his briefings.
We are not certain what type of briefings might be offered to Haley, who has been tapped by Trump to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, but she should take advantage of them and other advice she might receive from seasoned foreign policy professionals. She has a chance now to ease off some of her daily official duties as governor to make time to study up for her new job.
One big question facing the governor is how she will square various public opinions she has expressed with differing stances expressed by Trump on the campaign trail. The two notably diverge on the issue of immigration and Muslim immigrants in particular.
In once such instance, the Indian-American governor was chosen to deliver the GOP response to this year’s State of the Union speech and used the occasion to take a swipe at Trump.
“Today, we live in a time of threats like few others in recent memory. During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices,” she said. “We must resist that temptation. No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country.”
She also vociferously slammed Trump’s proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S.: “It’s just an embarrassment to the Republican Party,” Haley said during a news conference at the Governor’s Mansion. “It’s absolutely un-American. It’s unconstitutional. It defies everything this country was based on, and it’s just wrong.”
Like many other Republicans, Haley, who originally supported Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida in the Republican primary, has had to back away from many of the critical statements she made about Trump during the primary. In accepting the ambassador’s job, she apparently has made peace with Trump and his contrasting beliefs.
But as America’s representative to the UN, she is likely to confront any number of sensitive situations involving relations with nations that have large Muslim populations. Her own background as a daughter of Indian immigrants could be a plus in dealing with the racial and ethnic diversity of fellow ambassadors and others at the UN.
But she would be at a severe disadvantage if she is forced to adopt and reflect Trump’s views on Muslims and on what he perceives as the disadvantages of admitting immigrants from many nations to the U.S. In short, we wonder whether she will be given the latitude to approach the job based on her own professed beliefs or whether she will merely be expected to serve as a mouthpiece at the UN for the Trump administration.
We hope it will be the former and that she will use this time to expand her knowledge of world affairs before she assumes her new duties.
This story was originally published December 4, 2016 at 3:11 PM with the headline "Haley should take a study break."