Former US envoy to the UN, Nikki Haley has said in an interview with The Politico news organisation that Donald Trump "let down" the Republican Party with his actions after the November election, in a rare expression of criticism against the former POTUS.
"We need to acknowledge he let us down. He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again," Haley said.
At the same time, Haley refused to criticise Trump's actions in his post before the November election, arguing that the GOP and the former president should never "apologise for the policies that we fought for and the things that we did during his four years."
The former envoy to the UN also dismissed the idea that Trump was "dangerous" and insisted that there was nothing to "fear about him". Haley noted that she has not spoken to Trump since the 6 January Capitol riot, reiterating her disappointment with the then-president's remarks at the "Stop the Steal" rally that preceded the mob's attack. The erstwhile top diplomat previously slapped Trump down for being "badly wrong with his words" at his 6 January event.
Her criticism of Trump contrasts starkly with her earlier stance. In a previously unreleased December 2020 interview with The Politico, Haley refused to acknowledge that Trump's claims of election fraud could be "dangerous" for the country.
Haley on GOP's Future
Haley, whom some media, including The Politico, suspect of being a presidential hopeful for 2024, also shared her vision of the post-Trump Republican Party with the media outlet. She said she believes that the GOP will not go back to its pre-Trump ways and nor should it. According to her, the Republican Party has to retain the "good that [Trump] built", and leave out "the bad".
The alleged presidential hopeful suggested that this way the GOP can "get back" to being "a good, valuable, effective party". She also said
"I hope our country can come together and figure out how we pull this back.".
