Wall Street Journal
By Heather Haddon
January 13, 2016
South
Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has become the latest proxy in the war
between the Republican Party’s establishment wing and its presidential
front-runner, Donald Trump.
The
infighting broke out immediately after Mrs. Haley, responding to the
President Barack Obama’s Tuesday State of the Union address, urged her
party and others not to
follow “the siren call of the angriest voices.”
On CNN Wednesday, she confirmed that she was referring in part to Mr. Trump, who has railed against Mexicans and Muslims.
“We
see Republicans who are not always being responsible with their words
in terms of extending our tent," said Mrs. Haley, an Indian-American and
two-term governor who
is considered by some party operatives as a potential vice-presidential
choice.
Mr.
Trump on Wednesday accused Mrs. Haley of being “weak on illegal
immigration,” and sarcastically noted that she had asked him for
campaign contributions over the years.
He
shunned the prospect of Mrs. Haley as a running mate, based on her
immigration stance. “I feel very strongly about illegal immigration. She
doesn’t,” Mr. Trump said
on Fox News.
For
establishment leaders who have watched the rise of Mr. Trump with
alarm, Mrs. Haley’s willingness to confront him publicly was cheered.
“When
Trump is attacking people on their ethnicity or religion, it’s a
horrible thing. It doesn’t reflect mainstream Republican thinking,” said
Charlie Black, a former
adviser to both Bush campaigns.
Help
Make America Awesome, one of the few super PACs that have directly
taken on Mr. Trump, latched on to the controversy to solicit
contributions online.
Meanwhile,
moments after Mrs. Haley finished her remarks, a tweet by conservative
commentator Ann Coulter saying that Mr. Trump “should deport Nikki
Haley” went viral
on the Internet, and soon thereafter radio host Laura Ingraham
characterized the remarks as being tone deaf to the party’s base.
Several
Haley critics drew parallels between her remarks and the president’s
warning in his address against language that scapegoats “fellow citizens
who don’t look like
us, or pray like us, or vote like we do.”
White
House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough told reporters Wednesday that he
had a lot of admiration for Mrs. Haley, even if he didn’t agree with
many of her stances as
governor.
“I
think some of the things she’s done over the course of the last year
are remarkable,” Mr. McDonough said during a Christian Science Monitor
breakfast.
Mrs.
Haley’s political capital rose last year after she supported the
removal of the Confederate flag from the Columbia, S.C., statehouse and
called for calm after a racially
motivated church shooting. During her tenure, the 43-year-old fiscal
conservative also signed a law cracking down on illegal immigration.
Mrs.
Haley, along with New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and Nevada Gov. Brian
Sandoval, have become leaders in the GOP’s effort to make inroads with
women and minority
voters.
At
a news conference in South Carolina Wednesday, Mrs. Haley broadened her
critical assessment of the 2016 field beyond Mr. Trump.
“I
have disagreements with other presidential candidates. You know, Jeb
Bush passed Common Core [educational standards] and Marco Rubio believes
in amnesty, which I don’t,”
she said. “But I will say, tone matters, message matters, and
responsibility matters.”
She
was chosen to deliver the Republican response to the president by House
Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell of Kentucky, according
to an aide to the House Republican. Mrs. Haley wrote the speech on her
own, the person said.
Mr.
Ryan, who has also criticized Mr. Trump’s call for a temporary ban on
Muslims entering the U.S., stood by his choice Wednesday, and his team
circulated praise for
Mrs. Haley from conservatives such as Erick Erickson and Heritage
Action. The Republican National Committee also praised Mrs. Haley’s
address.
“Gov.
Haley did a great job with her speech, had the pen, and didn’t need
much input from us,” Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said.
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