Who Is Nikki Haley?
Who Is?
iHeartRadio + NowThis
4.1 • 803 Ratings
🗓️ 21 July 2020
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After serving as United States Ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump Administration, former Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley, the first woman to lead the state, has fast become one of the most prominent and powerful politicians in the contemporary Republican Party. Haley, the daughter of Punjabi Sikh immigrants, grew up in rural South Carolina, and first entered politics when she defeated a longtime incumbent in a longshot race after Hillary Clinton inspired her to run for political office. As a member of the South Carolina House, Haley fought for transparency. But as Governor, Haley was in line with some of the most antidemocratic positions of her party, from fighting to limit voting rights to seeking to attract jobs to South Carolina via toady corporate giveaways. To understand one of the most talented, compelling, and complicated women in conservative politics, Sean Morrow talks to the people who have observed--and served--with Haley during her meteoric rise to the top. Featuring a conversation with former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives and CNN analyst Bakari Sellers.
- Eleanor Openshaw, Co-Director of the New York office of the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR). She leads ISHR’s work to to promote NGO participation and protect civil society space at the United Nations
- Bakari Sellers, former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives and CNN political analyst. His new book, My Vanishing Country, was released in May 2020
- Andy Shain, Columbia Bureau Chief of South Carolina’s Post and Courier
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Nikki Haley is the most talented politician in the country. |
| 0:04.6 | Democrats need to be prepared and afraid of her running for nationwide office. |
| 0:14.4 | I think Nikki Haley's eyes have been running for president of the United States since you won re-election for governor in 2014. |
| 0:21.4 | That was Bacari Sellers, who was voted into the South Carolina House of Representatives |
| 0:26.2 | as the youngest ever African American elected official in the United States. |
| 0:31.6 | At the time, he sat next to then fellow state representative, Nikki Haley. |
| 0:41.7 | Now, Haley, a Republican, is the former ambassador to the United Nations for the Trump administration. Only having accepted the role after convincing |
| 0:46.8 | Trump, the guy who wrote the art of the deal, to make it a cabinet-level position and add her to |
| 0:52.8 | the National Security Council. |
| 0:54.7 | Like Sellers said, it's talent. |
| 0:56.8 | Talent means being able to not only understand policy with some depth and expertise, |
| 1:02.6 | but being able to communicate with all layers of stakeholders from the donor class to the small business storefront. So |
| 1:15.3 | Nikki Haley can go and woo Boeing to come to South Carolina. And in the next breath, she can be in a |
| 1:20.4 | church worshiping with the pastor. And then in the next step, she could be at a bakery talking about how she feels |
| 1:28.3 | your pain and empathizes. Nikki Haley does a really, really good job of being what she needs |
| 1:34.0 | to be at that moment. Few go into the Trump White House and leave with a strong career. But Nikki |
| 1:40.1 | Haley did. So, how did Nimrada Rondawa, a daughter of immigrant parents who grew up in rural |
| 1:47.6 | South Carolina, become the possible future of the Republican Party? Who is Nikki Haley? |
| 1:58.5 | I'm Sean Morrow, and this is Who Is, the podcast from Now This, where we examine power by looking at the stories of those who have it. |
| 2:08.7 | Last week, we told you a story about a young woman of color, coming from a traditionally working class part of America, |
| 2:16.3 | seeing something she wanted to change |
| 2:18.3 | and running for office when she wasn't supposed to. |
... |
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