Ex-critic Haley now Trump’s choice

Relations between Haley and Trump have been far from cordial, with both vaulting verbal jabs at each other during the race to the White House. Trump said in January that Haley’s stance on immigration was “weak” after the South Carolina governor welcomed properly vetted legal immigrants into her state, regardless of race or religion. 

In a video response to President Barack Obama’s annual State of the Union address, although Haley never used Trump’s name, she implied that the then-presumptive GOP nominee would threaten “the dream that is America” for others. 

Ahead of the South Carolina primary, where Trump ultimately beat out fellow GOP presidential hopefuls, Haley called the billionaire-turned-politician “everything a governor doesn’t want in a president.” However, before the general elections, she switched her position, saying she would vote for Trump. 

Haley and Trump were friendly before the campaign. The New York businessman contributed $5,000 to a pro-Haley political group in 2012. She would replace Samantha Power. The Cabinet position would require confirmation by the Senate. 

Haley is married to a captain in the Army National Guard who served in Afghanistan, and has two teenage children, according to her biography on the state’s website.

Haley has stated that, as the daughter of immigrants, she believes the immigration laws should be enforced. She voted in favour of a law that requires employers to be able to prove that newly hired employees are legal residents of the United States, and also requires all immigrants to carry documentation at all times proving that they are legally in the United States. The law was adopted, but is currently the subject of a lawsuit initiated by the United States Justice Department on numerous grounds. 

In an op-ed on CNN, South Carolina’s popular columnist Issac Bailey recently wrote Haley is perfectly positioned to do what many believed Hillary Clinton would have. “Haley could be a future political titan in a political party that finds itself with unprecedented levels of national power and internal chaos,” Bailey wrote. Haley could give Trump something to brag about and his supporters, desperate to deny the bigotry upon which their hero rose to political prominence, something to point to, his willingness to appoint a woman from a minority group who did not cow to him during the election cycle, Bailey said.