“As CFO of my family’s business, I saw how hard it was to make a buck and how easy it is to for the government to take it,” Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 2017 to 2019, told attendees of the SALT 2019 Conference in Las Vegas Thursday afternoon. “I thought there were too many lawyers at the statehouse, and they needed one good accountant.”
It was just one of many laughter and applause lines Haley received from the friendly crowd, as Anthony Scaramucci, SkyBridge Capital founder and managing partner, SALT emcee and Haley’s (brief) colleague in the Trump Administration asked questions in the conference’s final session.
Scaramucci began by explaining that the last time they saw each another was the Friday before Scaramucci was fired by then-White House chief-of-staff General John Kelly.
“You looked at me like, ‘I hope you survive this,’ but I didn’t.”
A review of Haley’s time in the administration then ensued.
Noting that the president originally raised the possibility of Haley as secretary of state, she said she declined, and when the U.N. post was then proposed, she told Trump, “I don’t really even know what they do, but I know no one likes them.”
“Which made you perfect for the job,” Scaramucci quipped.
Eschewing any “gray area” in the country’s position in the General Assembly, she said, “certain countries might not have liked our position, but they knew exactly where we stood.”
Referring to a high-profile 2018 Quinnipiac University poll, Scaramucci listed her approval numbers, which found broad 63% of American voters approved of her job performance vs. only 17% who say they disapproved.
More surprisingly given the period of intense political polarization, her approval was bipartisan, with 75% of Republicans, 63% of independents and 55% of Democrats approving the job she did.
Was her direct style of diplomacy responsible, Scaramucci queried?
“I’ve always been direct, blunt, yet respectful,” Haley answered. “Let’s be direct, honest and then let the chips fall where they may.”
She said the president has had a tough fight over the past two years, but from a job performance standpoint, “just look at the numbers and the results.”
‘Russia can never be trusted’
The topic then turned to Russia, where her direct style was on full display.
“The first thing is that we can never trust Russia—ever,” she said to applause. “Every bad actor is having their hand held by Russia, whether it’s Venezuela, Iran, Syria or whomever. [Putin] knows he gains power by causing chaos. He not only interfered with our elections but in those all across Europe. But the president is right to be talking with him, and no matter how he appears, his actions on the Russians have been very tough.”
In an amusing aside, Haley mentioned that she showed up, did her job and avoided the drama of the White House.
“I didn’t avoid the drama, Nikki,” Scaramucci interjected. “I created it. I was like mayhem in the Allstate commercials.”
When asked about a purported resurgence in popularity of at least the concept of socialism among some young people, Haley was again direct, “’Proponents says socialism makes everyone equal. Yes, ask Venezuelans. They’re all equal in poverty and starvation.
“The capitalist system means that we’ve reduced starvation-level poverty by 80 percent since 1970,” she claimed. “If we continue on this track, we’ll effectively eradicate it by 2030.”