At the Republican Jewish Coalition summit in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley criticized President Donald Trump’s chaotic presidency and touted her own record on Israel while addressing the Jewish community.
Haley, who served as United States ambassador to the United Nations under Trump until 2019, pushed back against the president’s “chaos, vendettas, and drama” as she described it. She also sought to contrast her own record of support for Israel at the United Nations during her tenure.
“When people were busy tweeting trivial things, I was literally in big negotiations with the UN on how to stop Iran’s nuclear program and terrorism,” Haley said.
Haley has previously expressed criticism of Trump’s style, but Saturday’s speech was her most vocal rebuke yet of the president’s tenure. She noted that one of her proudest accomplishments as UN ambassador was the repeal of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s controversial Agenda Item Seven, which targeted Israel. Haley suggested that Trump’s chaotic style wasn’t the right approach for holding meaningful negotiations.
“You don’t get things done by calling people names and tweeting,” Haley said.
Haley’s comments were met with a standing ovation from the attendees, according to The Washington Post. The Republican Jewish Coalition Summit, attended by influential figures like billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and billionaire business executive Stephen Schwarzman, sought to lay out the GOP’s outreach to Jewish voters ahead of the 2020 general election.
The Republican Jewish Coalition has been a strong proponent of Israel and has supported US efforts to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and other foreign policy decisions that Haley and Trump have both backed. While admitting her support for some of Trump’s foreign policy decisions, she asserted that his chaotic and “divisive” rhetoric had hurt the United States’ image abroad.
“What it has done to our standing in the world is unconscionable,” she said.
Haley also spoke about the need to cultivate the next generation of leaders in the Republican Party and how important it is for the GOP to reach out to young voters and minorities.
Although Haley did not mention the president by name, her comments clearly set her apart from Trump and the current state of the Republican Party. At a time when Democrats are aggressively courting Jewish support, it was clear that Haley was trying to present a different, more unified face for the Republican Party—one that was friendly and supportive of the Jewish community.