Our friend Senator Rand Paul, the liberty-minded Republican Senator from Kentucky, on Friday issued a statement that closely reflects where it seems many conservatives are in this
year’s Republican presidential primary – they haven’t decided who to vote for, but they know Nikki Haley is no conservative.
“I’m not yet ready to make a decision, but I am ready to make a decision on someone who I cannot support,” Paul said according to a Gazette.com report on a video posted to X, the social media website previously known as Twitter. “So, I’m announcing this morning that I’m Never Nikki, and if you go to NeverNikki.net, you can let her know that you’re not a supporter either.”
“I don’t think any informed or knowledgeable libertarian or conservative should support Nikki Haley,” he continued, going after her “attitude towards our interventions overseas” and her “involvement in the military-industrial complex.”
Senator Paul detailed his opposition in a lengthy thread o X, explaining Nikki Haley supports Biden and McConnell and the forever-war crowd on funding for the war in Ukraine. And that “Her thirst for war is so strong she actually said: ‘I’m sick of talking about a Department of Defense. I want a Department of Offense’.”
According to Senator Paul, she “even personally received millions of dollars from the arms merchants who benefit from the war, a conflict of interest that undergirds her eagerness for foreign military intervention.”
And, wrote Senator Paul, this position isn’t new either – as Governor of South Carolina she gave tax dollars to those same arms merchants, and they showered her with campaign contributions and a seat on their board when she left office.
In this Senator Paul is referencing the lucrative Boeing board seat Nikki Haley accepted after leaving the Trump administration.
While most others were decrying the mistakes of the past 20 years, and fighting for an America First foreign policy, Senator Paul charged Nikki Haley was aligning herself with and declaring her foreign policy allies to be John McCain and Lindsey Graham.
What’s more, observed Senator Paul, Nikki Haley believes in nearly unlimited foreign aid — we have sent over $100 BILLION we don’t have to Ukraine already and she wants more. But this also isn’t new.
In her book With All Due Respect, she wrote “Humanitarian Assistance will always be a priority for the United States, we will always be generous.” But, wrote Senator Paul, Nikki Haley’s “generosity” with your tax dollars and her support for all foreign aid in the context of a $34 TRILLION dollar debt is in no way libertarian or conservative.
And Senator Rand Paul is not the only high-profile conservative to join the #NeverNikki movement.
Ann Coulter, who is no friend of President Trump and has often found herself as an outlier in today’s conservative politics, has likewise announced she is #nevernikki. “Don’t trust the donor class. They’re always wrong, as they are now going for Nikki Haley,” said Ms. Coulter.
In another post to X Coulter wrote, “What exactly is the evidence that Nikki Haley appeals to Independents and Dems? She was elected gov in the reddest state in the union that hasn’t had a Dem gov for 20 yrs.”
“The one thing I’m absolutely certain of is Nikki Haley doesn’t represent the liberty wing or the fiscally conservative wing of the Republican Party,” Senator Paul said.
“I think she represents the ‘Big Government,’ sort of the Mitch McConnell, Dick Cheney, John McCain wing of the GOP,” Senator Rand Paul argued. And we couldn’t agree more.