Haley: Support for Trump an 'easy call'

Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley outlined the case for former President Trump in an op-ed targeting undecided moderate voters on the Sunday before the election.

In her Wall Street Journal op-ed, Haley described the election as a choice between two candidates and argued it’s an “easy call” to back Trump over Vice President Harris.

“I don’t agree with Mr. Trump 100% of the time. But I do agree with him most of the time, and I disagree with Ms. Harris nearly all the time,” Haley wrote in the op-ed. “That makes this an easy call.”

Haley began the op-ed acknowledging that millions of people love Trump and millions hate Trump. She noted, however, that there are still millions who have “mixed” feelings about him.

“They like much of what he did as president and agree with most of his policies. But they dislike his tone and can’t condone his excesses, such as his conduct on Jan. 6, 2021. This third group of Americans will determine whether the former president returns to the White House,” Haley wrote in her piece.

“To that group, I’ll point out that Mr. Trump isn’t the only one on the ballot. This election isn’t a referendum on him. It’s a choice between him and Kamala Harris,” she continued.

Haley pointed to economic policy and national security as the primary motivators for her support of Trump over Harris. She blamed Harris for what Haley described as shortcomings of the Biden-Harris administration, writing, “As president, Ms. Harris would make America’s fiscal crisis even worse.”

Haley critiqued the Democratic administration’s approach to Iran and China, as well as its handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal and the southern border, which Haley described as “our most pressing security threat.”

She wrote in the piece that she sees “enormous policy differences that will affect the lives of every American and much of the world.”

“A Trump administration would be different. It wouldn’t be perfect. But I agree with Mr. Trump that we need to keep taxes low and cut them more,” she wrote. “I agree with Mr. Trump that America should be strong—far stronger than we are today.”

Haley has faced pressure in recent weeks to be a more active advocate of the former president. She endorsed him after staying mum for months following her announcement that she would no longer seek the GOP presidential nomination, clearing the way for Trump to claim it himself.

She was the last candidate standing against the former president in the 2024 GOP primary, which became heated as the candidates exchanged personal jabs and Haley refused to bow out of the race.

Even after Haley endorsed the former president, she has not walked back her public criticism of her former primary rival, instead leaning on the argument that Trump is better than the alternative. She repeated that case in her op-ed Sunday.

“Will Mr. Trump do some things I don’t like in a second term? I’m sure he will. If that was the question before voters, then I imagine Mr. Trump would lose. But that isn’t the question in any election,” Haley wrote.

“No politician gets everything right. For those of us clear-eyed enough to see Mr. Trump’s flaws and honest enough to acknowledge them, the question is whether we’re better off with his policies or his opponent’s. On taxes, spending, inflation, immigration, energy and national security, the candidates are miles apart. And Mr. Trump is clearly the better choice.”

The Hill has reached out to the Trump and Harris campaigns for comment.