Make no mistake, the GOP's Nikki Haley is no moderate

SCREEN CAPTURE / PBS

Nikki Haley is campaigning to be the Republican Presidential nominee in 2024.

As president, Indian American Nikki Haley would push forward "the same politics of lies and division that Trump used, just in a softer voice." 

- Rev. Dr. William Barber II.

By Julia Conley
Reprinted from Common Dreams

Following former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley's launch of her 2024 presidential campaign last February, progressives cautioned that while the Republican has spent years cultivating a so-called "moderate" public persona, her policy positions make it abundantly clear that as president, she would promote a right-wing agenda similar to the Trump administration, in which she served for nearly two years.

Haley, who also served as South Carolina's governor before joining the administration of former President Donald Trump in 2017, has advanced right-wing policies both domestically and abroad, and since leaving public office four years ago, has used her platform to promote "extreme hardline positions on foreign policy," wrote Daniel Larison at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

The Republican has strived to center her response to the 2015 Mother Emanuel AME Church shooting in Charleston by a white supremacist as evidence of her moderation, including in her campaign launch video footage of the speech she gave weeks after the massacre when signing a bill to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of the state capitol.

Progressive strategist Sawyer Hackett noted, however, that moments earlier in the video she denied that the deep history of institutional racism has contributed to persistent inequality in the United States.

"Make no mistake: Nikki Haley is no moderate," said Christina Harvey, executive director of progressive advocacy group Stand Up America. "From her support of Trump's policy of putting children in cages and the regressive reproductive health policies she pushed as governor of South Carolina to her opposition to federal voting rights legislation and her unwavering support of Donald Trump—even after he incited the January 6 insurrection—Nikki Haley has shown her true colors."

During her six years as governor of South Carolina, Haley signed anti-reproductive rights bills including one that banned abortion care after 19 weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.

With anti-abortion rights Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expected to also announce a run for the GOP presidential nomination, NARAL Pro-Choice America president Mini Timmaraju said the primary is already becoming "a race to the bottom."

"Whether it's serving in Donald Trump's Cabinet or signing an extreme abortion ban into law, Nikki Haley's record is chock full of red flags," said Timmaraju. "Haley's views on abortion are just as extreme as others gunning for the Republican nomination, and we look forward to working alongside our members to defeat the Republican nominee, whoever it may be."

Haley's campaign launch ad also included a claim that President Joe Biden is promoting a "socialist" agenda, which Poor People's Campaign co-chair Rev. Dr. William Barber II interpreted as an attack on those who "believe in living wages, voting rights, and healthcare for all."

During Haley's two years as U.N. ambassador under the Trump administration, she was a strong proponent of the president's so-called "zero tolerance" policy under which thousands of migrant children were separated from their parents and guardians, Trump's push to pull out of the U.N. Human Rights Council, and the administration's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.Though she briefly criticized Trump for inciting the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 in an effort to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election results, Haley soon after defended the former president and called on Democratic lawmakers to "give the man a break" as they impeached Trump for a second time.

"When we needed leaders to stand up for our democracy and our freedoms, Haley fell in line with Donald Trump, again and again," said Harvey. "That's exactly the opposite of what our country needs. Unfortunately, it doesn't make her unique. Whether the Republican nominee is Nikki Haley, Donald Trump, or someone else, there will likely be a MAGA Republican with a track record of undermining our democracy on the GOP ticket come November 2024."

At the Quincy Institute, Larison wrote that Haley's effort to cast herself as a moderating voice in the Republican Party while also defending the former president has left her "with no obvious base of support" and has likely rendered her a long-shot candidate.

"There is so little daylight between Haley's own positions and those of Trump that it will be difficult for her to criticize anything he did as president," Larison wrote. "Haley's foreign policy record is bound up with Trump's to such an extent that she will struggle to distinguish herself from him."

Barber called on voters to focus on "the main message: None of the Republicans planning on running disagree with Trump on policy."

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @eduardodiok on Threads.net, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at his blog Views From the Edge.

An avowed "anti-woke" Indian American Republican joins race for US President

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Vivek Ramaswamy is the second Republican Indian American runing for President in 2024.

A second Indian American millionaire has come out of nowhere to announce his candidacy for US President.

The meteoric political ascendency of South Asian Americans is on full display in preparation for the 2024 campaign for US President as tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, 37, threw his hat in the ring for the Republican nomination for President.

He launched his Presidential bid a week after former South Carolina Governor and Donald Trump's Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley announced her campaign for the GOP nomination. Donald Trump is the only other major candidate who has announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination.

Unlike Haley, however, Ramaswamy has no political resume to lean on, which may be a good thing or a bad thing considering state of the Republican Party being torn asunder by MAGA Republicans and what can be called the right-of-center moderates, a self-cancelling designation.

Not much is known about Ramaswamy's policies but his oped in the Repert Murdoc-owned Wall Street Journal indicates he is on the far right political spectrum

“To put America first, we need to rediscover what America is. That’s why I am running for president,” Ramaswamy wrote in his opinion article. “I am launching not only a political campaign but a cultural movement to create a new American Dream—one that is not only about money but about the unapologetic pursuit of excellence.”

“We embrace secular religions like climatism, Covidism and gender ideology to satisfy our need for meaning, yet we can’t answer what it means to be an American,” Ramaswamy wrote in his oped.

“The Republican Party’s top priority should be to fill this void with an inspiring national identity that dilutes the woke agenda to irrelevance,” he continued.

In his article he also hopes to win over some of Trump's base. He's in favor of eliminating affirmative action, stronger border control and repealing civil service protection for federal employees.

On Twitter, he wrote: "As President, I will end federally mandated affirmative action. I will repeal Lyndon Johnson’s Executive Order 11246 which mandates race-based quotas. Every Republican since Johnson had the opportunity to do it. I’ll do it on Day 1 without apology."

He also dived right into the culture wars the GOP is trying to make their major appeal to conservative. In a video reelased at the same time he was being interviewed by Fox News, Ramaswamy announced his presidential ambitions taking aim at the “woke left” as well as “new secular religions like COVID-ism, climate-ism and gender ideology.”

Ramaswamy also thinks climate change can be solved by relying more on oil and nuclear power even though most scientists, including climatologists, the way to slow climate change is to reduce society's reliance on fossil fuel.

In 2014, Ramaswamy founded the biotech company Roivant Sciences. The company went on to give birth to over 20 subsidiaries with varying levels of success, including six approved products to date. Notable offshoots are immunology-focused Immunovant, whose prized asset batoclimab is currently in three potentially registrational studies, and dermatology-focused Dermavant, whose Vtama cream is the first and only steroid-free, FDA-approved medication in its class for adults with plaque psoriasis, according to Fierce Biotech.

Roivant confirmed to media that its CEO, Ramaswamy had “stepped down from the company’s board of directors to focus on his U.S. presidential campaign.”

Vivek Ramaswamy has declined to disclose his exact net worth in light of his presidential bid, but previous estimates from Forbes reports put Ramaswamy’s net worth at $600 million. The biotech entrepreneur did not dispute that his net worth has been over half a billion dollars, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Ramaswamy was born in Cincinnati to Indian parents. In high school he was class valedictorian, a nationally ranked junior tennis player and an accomplished pianist.

He graduated from Harvard College in 2007, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a major in biology. Later he entered Yale Law School.

While at Harvard, a precis of his senior thesis, on the ethical questions raised by creating human-animal chimeras was published in the Boston Globe and The New York Times. He was chairman of the Harvard Political Union and served as one of three undergraduates chosen for an advisory board for the selection of the current president of Harvard. During his senior year, Vivek co-founded StudentBusinesses.com, a technology startup company which connected entrepreneurs with professional resources via the internet, and he led the company to its acquisition in 2009.

He is the author of two books that further explains his ultra-conservative views, "Woke, Inc." and "Nation of Victims."

Although there are only 4.5 million Indian Americans , or 1.35% of the US population, according to the 2020 US Census, they are the second largest ethnic group under the AANHPI umbrella after Chinese Americans and just ahead of Filipino Americans. 

The political emergence of Indian Americans has been noticed by both major political parties. However, of the dozens of AANHPI communities, Indian Americans heavily favor the Democratic Party the most, which makes the two Indian American candidates running for the Republican presidential nomination noteworthy. There are five Indian Americans in Congress, all Democrats, and despite the relatively small number of Indian Americans, they have surged politically in state and local elections.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Presidential candidate Nikki Haley: "Take it from me, America is not a racist country."

Nikki Haley formally launched her campaign for President.

Nikki Haley made her bid for President official with her formal announcement in Charleston, South Carolina in front of hundreds of her cheering supporters.

Leaning into her Indian American heritage, she said, "Take it from me, America is not a racist country," a statement with which other Indian Americans and members of other ethnic groups disagree.

"I know America is better than all the division and distractions that we have today," Haley said trying to bridge the partisan divides that characterizes this era's politics.

Placing such an emphasis on her ethnicity could backfire on Haley.

1. Republicans who are closet white supremacists, or outspoken racists, who have flocked to the GOP in recent years would never support a person of color.

2. Her apparent blindness towards racial issues could turn off a lot of AANHPI voters, who overwhelmingly voted for Democrats in 2020 and 2022.

Of the ethnic groups falling under the AANHPI umbrella, Indian Americans are the strongest in voting for Democratic candidates and progressive issues. They are for gun control and reproductive rights, issues the GOP has railed against.

Haley doesn’t represent the community, Varun Nikore, executive director of the AAPI Victory Alliance, told NBC. “There’s a multitude of issues where she specifically and the Republican Party are diametrically opposed to where AAPIs are.”

Milan Vaishnav, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who surveyed Indian American voting attitudes in 2020 compared Haley's campaign to the former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's unsuccessful run for President in 2016.

"They have sought to kind of play it up when they thought it was convenient to appeal to a certain kind of narrative,” Vaishnav told Politico, “but at the same time, have stood with the Republican Party when Republican officials, including Donald Trump, (have) engaged in kind of racist tropes or racist activity.”

Haley was born in Bamberg, South Carolina in 1972. Her Sikh parents Ajit Singh Randhawa and Raj Kaur Randhawa, who had emigrated from Punjab to Canada and then to the US in the 1960s, named their daughter Nimrata Nikki Randhawa.

Although raised in a Sikh family, she converted to Christianity when she married Michael Haley in 1996.

She served two terms as South Carolina's governor. Even though she didn't endorse Trump as the Republican nominee, Trump appointed her as the US ambassador to the United Nations.

"We're ready — ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past, and we are more than ready for a new generation to lead us into the future," said the 51-year old Haley.

"When America is distracted, the world is less safe... And today, our enemies think the American era has passed. They’re wrong. America is not past our prime. It’s just that our politicians are past theirs!," indicating that she will make he age of opponents (Trump is 76, Biden is 80) an issue in her campaign. 

"We won’t win the fight for the 21st Century if we keep trusting politicians from the 20th Century. And so, I have an announcement to make. I stand before you as the daughter of immigrants – as a proud wife of a combat veteran – and as the mom of two amazing children," she said.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Nikki Haley will run against Donald Trump for the GOP nomination for Presidnt

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Nikki Haley preempted her formal announcement with this Twitter video.

As a brown woman campaigning for the Republican nomination for President, Nikki Haley will stand out.

The Indian American former Ambassador to the UN is the first Republican woman of color to run for President.

She tipped off her candidacy Tuesday on a social media video, a day earlier than her anticipated formal announcement today in Charleston, South Carolina.  Echoing a theme used by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee in the GOP response to President Biden's State of the Union, Haley said “it’s time for a new generation of leadership” in Washington.

Although directed at Biden, who is 80-years old, it could also be the first line of distinction between her and 76-year old Donald Trump, the only other announced candidate for the GOP presidential nomination.

Haley has been a rising star in the GOP since she was governor of South Carolina. She garnered national attention when she boldly ordered that the Confederate flag be taken down from the Statehouse flagpole after the mass shooting of Black worshippers in Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.

In 2020, she gave one of the better speeches at the GOP nominating convention. "This is personal for me," Haley said at the convention. "I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. They came to America and settled in a small southern town. My father wore a turban."

Next, she delivered perhaps the best line of the night and could be a bumper sticker in 2024. "My mother wore a sari. I was a brown girl in a black and white world," said Haley,  whose full name before she got married was Nimrata Nikki Randhawa.

Haley, 51, who was appointed as the US Ambassador to the UN by Trump, hit a similar note in her announcement video: “My mom would always say your job is not to focus on the differences, but the similarities,” she said. “And my parents reminded me and my siblings every day how blessed we were to live in America.”

“Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections. That has to change,” Haley continued in her announcement. “Joe Biden’s record is abysmal, but that shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again.”

She is not the first Indian American to seek the GOP nomination for President. Former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal unsuccessfully sought the nomination in 2016.

Although Haley is the first Republican to challenge Trump, she not the best known Repubilcan with presidential ambitions. Former Vice President Pence and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have higher national profiles and are expected to toss their hats in the ring.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Right-wing media attacks on VP Kamala Harris increase as 2024 approaches

 

The New York Post is part of the Rupert Murdoch media empire, which includes Fox News.

ANALYSIS

Right-wing media continues to target Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic frontrunner for President if President Biden decides not to run for re-election in 2024.

Articles questioning Harris' effectiveness as Vice President, her shaky staff, her intelligence and her capabilities have been running in conservative "news" outlets from the day that Biden picked her as his running mate.

Harris is being held to a higher standard than other Vice Presidents. Can you name a Vice President who has defined himself independent of the President they serve? As the second-in-command, it is their role to support and advise the President and represent him in the multitude of meetings and events required of the two top office holders in the nation. It is not the Vice President's traditional role to break away from the President's policies in order to bring attention to herself.

Despite the popular conservative trope that claims that mainstream media are left-wing mouthpieces, most media --- print and broadcast -- are beholden to stockholders, a group that lean conservative. Most of the balance of news outlets, adhering to journalistic value of remaining neutral, from the far right vantage point, may appear to be liberal when they are actually trying to be middle of the road. 

In some cases, conservative news outlets will simply make up stories to make the Vice President look bad.

In 2021, The New York Post published a fake story that migrant kids were given copies of Vice President Kamala Harris’ children's book “Superheroes Are Everywhere.” The reporter resigned as a protest saying she was “ordered” to write the fake news.

Here's how the conservative media machine works:

• Conservative news outlets such as the New York Post or Fox News does a piece questioning Harris' leadership capabilities.

• The NY Post often leads off with a story and then it is picked up by Fox News and then the Wall Street Journal will chime in with an opinion piece, the latter still clinging to its reputation to put a stamp of credibility on the issue. Not coincidentally, all of the aforementioned media is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who has helped cleave. They story then gets picked up by number of other conservative news outlets like the Washington Times, Epoch Times and Breitbart News then echoed by the Sinclair TV Group or Fox's chain of TV stations.

• Other mainstream media outlets, fall for the bait set up by the ultra-right wing media. In order to not appear as "missing the news," or being accused of being biased, other news outlets are put in the position of playing "catch-up." In order to not appeared biased, they inevitably do their own versions questioning Harris leadership capabilities, thus forth, further strengthening the impression of Harris' weaknesses.

The average US citizen who wants to keep abreast of the news, seeing this onslaught of attack articles or broadcast pieces about Harris then comes to the inevitable conclusion, "Hmm. There must be something wrong with Harris." 

Chess vs. checkers

So when you see articles such as the one put forth by the Murdoch-owned NY Post about Harris, consider the source. In terms of political strategy, Republicans and their conservative dark-money sources think more long-term than the Democrats. They play chess while Democrats play checkers. 

For example, while Democrats were celebrating President Obama's historic terms in the White House, the GOP was concentrating in the states where they captured the majority in state legislatures and governorships.

While Democrats were high-fiving for putting a Black President in office, the Republican controlled legislatures were planning ways to gerrymander Congressional and state legislative districts in such a way to give the GOP the advantage. They were also placing new restrictions and requirements making it harder for Democratic voters to cast their ballots.

So what is the GOP endgame? What are the long-range implications of discrediting  Harris, the highest-ranking and most visible Asian American in US politics ever. 

2024 and 2028

Which brings us to the prospective candidacy of Nikki Haley and her role in the 2024 race for President. She will presumably announce her intentions on Feb. 15. Hear me out:

In order to avoid accusations of racism or sexism, who better to attack Harris? Another Indian American woman.

Most political watchers agree that Haley has no chance of winning the Republican nomination for President. At best, Haley might be better suited for the role of Vice President for whoever the GOP picks to head the ticket. It could be Trump, DeSantis or some other as of yet unnamed wannabee.

Even if the Republicans lose in 2024, Haley would be in a strong position to lead the GOP in 2028. And who would she probably face either as someone running for a second term (assuming Biden doesn't run in 2024); or as a likely Democratic leader after two terms as the loyal Vice President to perhaps one of the most consequential Presidents we've seen in recent years.

A contest between two strong Indian American women would be interesting as hell and would surely split South Asian voters, who have been strongly Democratic in the 2020 and 2022 elections.

There's a lot of if's in this scenario and it could easily be derailed. Assuming the Democrats ton't give in to the GOP media manipulation and nominate someone else, at the very least, the race for 2024 is already setting up as one in which Asian American voters should be engaged in.

The other storyline put out there is that Biden would pick someone else as his running mate in 2024. That scenario is unlikely because that would certainly displease Black, Asians and women voters, some of Biden's strongest constituencies because of her gender and mixed Black and Asian racial background.

Don't expect the attacks against Harris to let up. With the 2024 Presidential campaigns already underway, right-wing media continues to chip away at her future opportunities. As we await Biden's decision to run for re-election, and all indications  point to a second term, Harris' role will be prominent. The GOP strategists believe the shakier Harris is now, makes it easier to bring her down in the future.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter. The writer has 30 years of experience as a journalist in community and mainstream media.

Nikki Haley expected to announce her campaign for the US Presidency

SCREEN CAPTURE / ABC

Indian American politician Nikki Haley seeks Republican nomination for President in 2024.

Ever since she resigned as Donald Trump's United Nations envoy early in his administration, it was widely speculated that Nikki Haley would run for President. This Feb. 14, she will announce her candidacy for the Republican nomination for President in 2024, according to news reports. 

The first hint of the upcoming announcement came as invitations going out to potential supporters that a "special announcement" will be made Feb. 15 at The Shed at the Charleston Visitor Center. A staff member confirmed the event.

Though she previously said she would not run against Trump if her were to run, her recent statements on social media seems to indicate a change of mind despite Trump's announcement Nov. 15 about his intention to return to the White House.

“It’s time for a new generation,” Haley tweeted. “It’s time for new leadership. And it’s time to take our country back. America is worth the fight — and we’re just getting started.”

Haley has tried to position herself as a moderate Republican even though she worked for one of the United States' most radical administrations. In the past year, she has been active on social media criticizing Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their policies.

She has been particularly harsh against Harris, who is the first Vice President of Indian American and African American heritage, calling her "unprofessional and unfit" to be Vice President.

In another tweet, Haley posted: "The only time we hear about Kamala Harris is when she's explaining her way out of a word salad. It’s time for her to do her job and secure the border."

Haley, whose parents are Indian American immigrants, may be trying to splinter the Asian American vote, which has played important roles in the 2020 Presidential election and the 2022 Midterms. Of the Asian American subgroups, South Asians have shown a strong tendency to vote liberal and for Democratic candidates.

Haley made national headlines in 2015 when she ordered the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the Statehouse grounds after a racist mss shooting took the lives of nine worshippers at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

RNC: Nikki Haley talks about racism, but denies racism in the U.S.

    SCREEN CAPTURE / PBS

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley at the Republican National Convention

On one hand, Nikki Haley argues that "America is not a racist country." On the other hand, she talks about the discrimination and hardship that she and her parents faced. 

Haley was one of the keynote speakers on the first night of the Republican National Convention that began Monday (Aug. 24) and will culminate with Donald Trump's acceptance speech on Thursday.

"This is personal for me," Haley says. "I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. They came to America and settled in a small southern town. My father wore a turban."

Next, she delivered perhaps the best line of the night and could be a bumper sticker in 2024. "My mother wore a sari. I was a brown girl in a black and white world."

"America is a story that's a work in progress," she admits. "Now is the time to build on that progress, and make America even freer, fairer, and better for everyone. That's why it's tragic to see so much of the Democratic Party turn a blind eye toward riots and rage."

Haley, often mentioned as a possible POTUS candidate for 2024, is one of more popular members of the Donald Trump administration when she was the US envoy to the United Nations.

As if that wasn't puzzling enough, she also brings up another racist act as an example of America not being racist.

"It wasn't like this in South Carolina five years ago. Our state came face-to-face with evil,: she recalls. "A white supremacist walked into Mother Emanuel Church during Bible Study. Twelve African Americans pulled up a chair and prayed with him for an hour. Then he began to shoot."

But, according to Haley, that deadly carnage was not racist.

Clearly, Haley needs to take an ethnic studies history class to understand that racism was the basis for the rise of white dominance starting from the so-called treaties with Native Americans that were consistently broken, the use of slaves for cheap labor, not to mention the Chinese Exclusion Act and the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Despite the blinders towards history, Haley's speech was perhaps the most measured and coherent of the evening. Prior to the convention, Republicans leaders said they wanted to stress what's good about America. Instead, we got the following:

"Trump is the bodyguard of western civilization," said Charlie Kirk, the founder of conservative youth organization Turning Point USA. "Trump was elected to protect our families from the vengeful mob that seeks to destroy our way of life, our neighborhoods, schools, church, and values. President Trump was elected to defend the American way of life."

"Make no mistake: No matter where you live, your family will not be safe in the radical Democrats' America," said Patricia McCloskey. She and her husband brandished guns at demonstrators marching past their home in St. Louis. She claimed that the Democrats want to "abolish the suburbs, altogether."

Tuesday speakers include:

First Lady Melania Trump
The Honorable Mike Pompeo
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds
Florida Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nuñez
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron
Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi
Abby Johnson
Jason Joyce
Myron Lizer
Mary Ann Mendoza
Megan Pauley
Cris Peterson
John Peterson
Nicholas Sandmann
Eric Trump
Tiffany Trump

Nikki Haley speaking tonight at the Republican National Convention

SCREEN CAPTURE / NDTV

Former UN envoy Nikki Haley is scheduled to speak at the Republican National Convention.

Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina Governor and former Ambassador to the United Nations, will speak at the Republican National Convention after all.

An early list of RNC speakers had omitted the Indian American Republican's participation. This morning reveals that she will be among the speakers tonight (Aug. 24). It unclear if she will speak at the Jacksonville, Florida main hub or speak virtually from another location.

Last week, out of concern about spreading the coronavirus, Democratic leaders opted to go all-virtual with four main hubs mixed in with pre-recorded videos for some speakers. Donald Trump wanted to have the Republican conclave live as much as possible.

Trump is expected to deliver his acceptance speech from the White House on Thursday evening.

Haley, one of the few Trump administration officials who polls well, is expected to make a run for President in 2024. Haley was so popular within the party that there was speculation that she might replace Vice President Mike Pence on the 2020 ticket.

The RNC will have a theme for each night. The overall theme for the week is "Honoring the Great American Story."

Tonight, the theme will be "Land of Promise."

Trump's oldest son, Donald Trump, Jr. will be one of the keynoters as well as his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is part of the Trump campaign.

A few additional RNC speakers are sure to turn heads. Among them are Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the husband and wife who were charged with felonies after they pointed guns at peaceful Black protesters in St. Louis. 

The full speakers' list for the first night is below:

* Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida
* Kimberly Guilfoyle (Trump fundraising official)
* Former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina
* Natalie Harp (member of Trump reelection advisory board)
* Amy Johnson Ford (nurse)
* Rep. Vernon Jones of Georgia
* Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio
* Charlie Kirk (Turning Point USA founder)
* Kim Klacik (Republican candidate in Maryland’s Seventh Congressional District)
* Mark and Patricia McCloskey
* Ronna McDaniel (Republican National Committee chairwoman)
* Sean Parnell (Republican candidate in Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District)
* Andrew Pollack (father of Parkland shooting victim Meadow Pollack)
* Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana
* Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina
* Donald Trump, Jr.
* Tanya Weinreis (small business owner)

The RNC will be aired on most news channels from 8:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET, with a "nightly surprise" at 10 p.m. ET on each day until Thursday.

Will Trump replace Pence with Nikki Haley?

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Donald Trump praised Nikki Haley as she left the office of US Ambassador to the United Nations.

OPINION

Donald Trump is down in the polls and down in the dumps. He knows it. He needs to do something pretty spectacular to even things up with the presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Enter Nikki Haley. She's been pretty quiet since she resigned as the UN Ambassador a year ago. But recently, the former governor of South Carolina has begun to raise her political profile once again with her apparent "groveling" to Donald Trump.

On Friday, Haley said she was “proud of the selfless leadership” the president had shown in nixing the large-scale in-person GOP convention that was scheduled next month in Jacksonville, Florida.

Trump “has a great story to tell on how he turned our economy & foreign policy around,” Haley continued. “We look forward to sharing it in the next 100 days!”

Her unsolicited, unexpected lavish praise of Trump has resurrected rumors that she might be a potential replacement for Vice President Mike Pence on the 2020 GOP ticket. Trump has denied the rumors.

Pence has been a loyal soldier -- steady and reliable -- but he lacks the pizzazz that would help energize the GOP ticket, not to mention, provide the show-business element that Trump, a former reality show host, likes.

While all the pundits' and media's attention has been on Biden's choice for a running mate, Trump is looking to turn the spotlight back on him by doing the unexpected.

In a FiveThirtyEight podcast that included Nate Silver, Claire Malone, and Perry Bacon Jr., the panel speculated what Team Trump could do to turn it all around, a switch in running mates was the one that made the most sense to them.

Haley replacing Pence would be a game-changer. Before Haley left the Trump team, an April 2018 Quinnipiac poll showed that Haley was one of the most popular members of Trump's foreign policy team. She garnered a net approval rating of +46, while the president's net approval rating was a lowly -15%.

The same poll also showed that Haley had a positive approval rating of +56% among Republican, +32% among Democrats, +44% among independents, +50% among men, +42% among women, +11% among Blacks, +47% among Latinos and +15% among youth. These figures are fantastic and provides a good argument for a Trump-Haley ticket.

By naming a person of color, with foreign policy experience -- Trump could upstage his Democratic rival and counter whatever buzz and excitement Biden's choice would generate. And like Biden's pick, the vice presidential office holder would be younger at age 48, that would counteract people concerned about Trump's advanced age, 77.

Pence, as previously mentioned, is a good soldier. If Trump chooses to replace him he would likely accept the decision. Pence and his religious conservative base would prefer Trump in the White House, even with his questionable Christian credentials, than a Democrat. Haley converted to Christianity in 1997 but attends Sikh ceremonies a couple times a year.

If need be, a departing Pence would fall on his sword and take the blame for the administration's feeble response to the coronavirus pandemic, in hopes of removing that albatross from Trump's campaign if it means keeping a Democrat -- a left of center one, at that -- out of the Oval Office.

Trump's so down in the polls, he's got nothing to lose and with his tendency to rely on his "gut" instinct, he might be open to the advice given to John McCain in 2008 about choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate who was rated “high risk (and potentially) high reward.” In McCain's case, a poorly vetted Palin proved to be a disaster.

Haley is less a risk than Palin, who was not well known before McCain's selection. Her conservative credentials are solid and the fact that she was the first Republican to take down the Confederate flag from in front of South Carolina's Capitol would help mollify the qualms of moderate Republicans who want their party to distance themselves from Trump's white supremacist supporters and stem the steady flow of suburban housewives that Trump has alienated.

Then there is the India factor. 

Haley has natural links to India with her parents having emigrated to the US in the 1960s from Punjab. She has often pointed out that India is an example of a free government and recently even applauded New Delhi’s decision to ban 59 Chinese applications and for standing up to China.

Picking Haley would also be in line with current Republican strategy to woo Indian Americans away from other Asian Americans who have moved towards the Democrats in recent election cycles. Trump doesn't need to win over Asian Americans 100%, but he could weaken that community's impact in key Congressional districts around the county.

If Haley was named Trump's vice president, there is good chance that both vice president candidates from the Democrats and Republicans could be Indian American if Biden picks Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate. Harris is considered a frontrunner in the Democrats' veep sweepstakes.

If that were to occur, the sight of two Indian American women on the same debate stage, would be one more history-making moment in an election year full of historic firsts and which is already deemed to be one of the most important elections in the last half-century.

Sunday Read; Three AAPI women who might be running for president

SENATOR KAMALA HARRIS

2020 COULD BE A LANDMARK year for Asian Americans with the tantalizing prospect of having an Asian American on the campaign trail for President of the U.S. -- not one, but perhaps three AAPI candidates could possibly enter that contest.

No one has formally declared her candidacy, but their names are being bruited about as potential candidates.

The rumors swirling around Sen. Kamala Harris, D-CA, keep her name on almost everyone's list of potential Presidential wannabees. She has garnered a higher profile with her position in the Kavanaugh hearings as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and she has maintained a hectic schedule criss-crossing the country lending her ability to excited audiences, stumping for Democratic candidates and increasing her name recognition in important early primary states such as Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire and leaving markers throughout the country through her impressive fundraising efforts and her endorsements.

Perhaps, most importantly, Harris represents a state with the most electoral votes and is the source of almost limitless funds from the entertainment and tech industries.

She is half-Indian and half-black potentially giving her an edge in both important communities. Let's not discount the African American vote which has overwhelmingly supported the Democrats for decades. And the Asian American vote is one quickly gaining influence in key parts of the country.

Harris went from a definite "no" in 2017 to "keeping her options open" in 2018 when questioned about her future political plans. She will probably make an announcement after the Midterms.

And wouldn't it be interesting if Indian American Harris went up against former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, another Indian American? Haley, a Republican, resigned from her UN post earlier this month for reasons still unclear.

AMBASSADOR NIKKI HALEY

While announcing that she will NOT be running against fellow Republican Donald Trump, her recent statements critical of Trump and the Republican Party as it is now composed, positions herself well among more Republican moderates and keeps open the door for more conservative Democrats who might not be satisfied with their party's choice.

Brian Hicks, political columnist for The Post and Courier, Charlotte's newspaper, has been following Haley's political career since she was in the state legislature to her time as South Carolina's governor. He writes:

Haley is tough, shrewd and a better leader than anyone in the GOP right now. Admittedly, there’s not much competition. But she’s making her most of this new gig, collecting allies and markers, expanding her influence and support. 

Haley will walk away from this train wreck with an attractive resume of foreign policy and executive-level experience. Next to the rest of these bozos, she looks like Winston Churchill. And when — not if — she decides to run for president, the national press will swoon.

Her recent statements separates her from toxic Trump and places her closer to the middle-ground that Americans (before Trump) prefer. She said:

"In our toxic political life, I've heard some people in both parties describe their opponents as enemies or evil. In America, our political opponents are not evil. In South Sudan, where rape is routinely used as a weapon of war, that is evil. In Syria, where the dictator uses chemical weapons to murder innocent children, that is evil. In North Korea, where American student Otto Warmbier was tortured to death, that was evil. In the last two years, I've seen true evil. We have some serious political differences here at home. But our opponents are not evil, they're just our opponents."

At the Al Smith Dinner, a light-hearted affair attended by a who's who in New York politics, she was introduced as the "next President of the United States." She took the intro in stride and landed some zingers aimed at personalities within the Trump administration.

After the introduction, which had the audience tittering nervously, she quipped without missing a beat, "Two years ago Trump was here and made some waves with his remarks, so last year you went with Paul Ryan, who’s a Boy Scout and that’s fine, but a little boring. So this year, you wanted to spice things up again,"

“I get it, you wanted an Indian woman, but Elizabeth Warren failed her DNA test,” joked Haley, whose parents emigrated from Punjab, India. “Actually, when the president found out that I was Indian American, he asked me if I was from the same tribe as Elizabeth Warren,” taking a jab at a potential opponent.

Haley insists she is not running against Trump in 2020, which makes her prime for a run in 2024. But ... and here is where the rumors get started; what if Trump decides he's had enough and decides to  not run for President in 2020? If the Democrats take the House, impeachment proceedings are very likely and they can call for his tax returns made public. I can see Trump just say, "The hell with it." If that unlikely scenario were to come into reality, that would open the door to Haley.

REP. TULSI GABBARD

One more name to the list of possible candidates is Rrep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.  She has not made any annoncement but Politico reports that Rania Batrice, an adviser to the progressive congresswoman, has been putting out feelers for digital and speechwriting staff for Gabbard. One person approached about the positions say that 2020 wasn’t mentioned explicitly, but it was heavily implied.

While most of the national media focused on Harris's possible candidacy, Gabbard has taken on the dark horse role, quietly making the rounds to the early primary states to meet with local Democrats and what's left of the Bernie Sanders supporters still looking for a progressive candidate to latch on to.

“I think everybody is focused on 2018, but we will see what happens after that,” Batrice said in an interview. “Someone like Tulsi, with her experience, is an important voice in the party and the country.”

An another sign that the 37-year old Iraqi war veteran is considering a White House run is the fact that she's writing a book, always a precursor to a presidential campaign. The book is due out in 2019 titled, “Is Today the Day?: Not Another Political Memoir.”

There will be a crowded field running for president in 2020. Among the other Democrats whose name keeps being mentioned are Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Corey Booker,  former Vice President Joe Biden and former Senator John Kerry,

Nikki Haley resigning from her UN post

SCREEN CAPTURE / CNN

Donald Trump announced Nikki Haley's resignation as the UN Ambassador.

NIKKI HALEY, perhaps the the best known Asian American in the Trump administration, has handed in her resignation letter. She plans to leave her position as Ambassador to the United Nations by the end of the year. 

Her resignation took most people by surprise and raised speculation about her future plans, which might include a campaign for president. 

Sitting next to Donald Trump in the Oval Office, Haley said she has no plans to run for president in 2020. In fact, she said, she would be campaigning for "this one," pointing at Trump.

"it has been an honor of a lifetime" serving as UN ambassador, but that it was time to depart the administration, reports said.

"There's no personal reason," she added. "It's very important for government officials to understand when it's time to step aside," the CNN report quoted her as saying.

"I want to make sure this administration, this president, has the strongest person to fight," she said.

The daughter of immigrants from India, Haley favored free markets and global trade and earned international attention for speaking out against the Confederate battle flag after nine black churchgoers were massacred in 2015 in Charleston.

Compared to other members of Trump's team, Haley nurutred the image of a moderate Republican. During the 2016 presidential campaign, she campaigned for Marco Rubio and was strongly critical of Trump.

Although she disagreed with the White House on some issues, she was also Trump's stanchest defenders to the global, sometimes embrassingly so. Most recently, when the UN envoys laughed at Trump during the UN General Assembly, Haley said the laughter was a sign of respect Trump.

The former governor of South Carolina often used the big stick, threatening that the U.S. was "taking names" of those countries opposed to U.S. interests, while at the same time using her southern charm to disarm other diplomats.

Haley was a strong critic of Russia despite Trump's apparent chumminess with Russia's leaders and also fiercely critical of what she believed was the diplomats' anti-Israel bias.

She also supported shutting off US funding for the UN's Palestinian refugee agency and revelled in defending the Trump administration's decision to move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in the face of an acid show of international criticism.

Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Human Rights Program, didn't mince word in his comments: “History books will remember Nikki Haley as a key player in the Trump administration’s campaign to undermine universal human rights and international bodies. During her tenure, the Trump administration withdrew from the U.N. Human Rights Council and UNESCO, pulled out of the negotiations leading up to the Global Compact on Migration, and attacked a U.N. independent human rights expert investigating poverty in the United States…”

"Now, the United States is respected," said Haley

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Happy Birthday America from some of your AAPI sons and daughters

JULY 4th, Americans celebrated the nation's birthday.  Here are a few comments by AAPI celebrities and politicians: