1-on-1 with 2024 presidential candidate and former SC governor Nikki Haley

SOUTH CAROLINA (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Amidst the fervor of the upcoming 2024 presidential campaign, Nikki Haley, a prominent figure vying for the Republican nomination, sits down for an exclusive interview with Queen City News Anchor Alicia Barnes.

In this candid conversation, Haley addresses her escalating rivalry with former President Donald Trump, the core principles driving her candidacy, and her vision for a unified America.

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With insights into her upbringing, political experience, and aspirations for the nation, Haley presents her platform while navigating the complexities of a deeply divided electorate.

Alicia: “Do you feel like you are getting under Trump’s skin? And how do you react to that?”

Nikki Haley: “I think we are absolutely getting under his skin, you could see the night of New Hampshire, he was upset that we got 43% of the vote, and the next day he said anyone who supports Nikki Haley will be barred permanently from MAGA, the next day after that he pushed the RNC to name him the presumptive nominee, and now we see he has paid 47 firms $50 million of his campaign money to go to legal fees, he is feeling the pressure.”

“He won’t debate us, we have asked over and over again, to debate us, let the American people hear the views that he has, let the American people see the choices, he continues not to do that.”

“We don’t do coronations in America. There have been two states that have voted, there are 1,215 delegates that you have to have, he has 32, I have 17, and we’ve got a long way to go. I’m not going anywhere.”

Alicia: “You are leaning in hard now, do you feel like you should have done that earlier or do you feel like this is where you wanted to be in the campaign?”

Nikki Haley: “It wouldn’t have made sense for me to go after Trump earlier, because we had a dozen others that we needed to get out of the way. Now that it’s a one-on-one race, we can talk about the differences. We can talk about the fact that he spent $8 trillion, in four years, putting us in debt that our kids are never going to forgive him for, we can talk about the fact that he had the opportunity to stop the fentanyl flow and he didn’t do it.”

“We can talk about that he praised China’s President XI after China gave us COVID-19, we can talk about a lot of different things that he did, but he won’t get on a debate stage.”

Alicia: What do you say to the people who say you got in this race because you felt Trump might be charged, and might get out of the race? What is your response to people who say, no…she is here to be President of the United States?”

Nikki Haley: “First of all I’m doing this because I don’t want my kids to live like this. I don’t want anybody’s kids to live like this with the division and chaos that we have and that continues to follow Donald Trump. We have to stop feeling that. But, the second thing if you look at what happens for Republicans, if Donald Trump is the nominee, Republicans lose, period. Every general election, head to head poll, there was one that came out yesterday, he was down 6 points, there was another one that came out before that, he was down 7 points, I was up 13 points in that poll, I have been up as much as 17 points. He can’t win. We will have a female president, it will either be me or Kamala Harris. Because if Donald Trump is the Republican nominee, Joe Biden will win and Kamala Harris will become president.”

Alicia: “As I’ve said, I read your books, I know your history, you grew up in Bamberg, South Carolina, you have experienced racism, and your understanding as to where we are as a country, I just want to hear your response in terms of you have called out prejudice but people say, well Nikki Haley won’t say we are a racist country, explain that to me?”

Nikki Haley: “Growing up as a brown girl in a small southern town, did we experience racism? Yes. Does racism still exist in our country? Yes. But, are we a racist country? No. And, I’m glad that my parents never told me that we grew up in a racist country because I never thought I could be anything. We want our kids to know they can be anything they want to be, without anyone getting in the way. There will be racism, our job is to stomp it out, everywhere we see it.  But, I think this amazing experiment that is America, really was intended that all men are created equal, with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Our job is to make today better than yesterday. Our job is to continue to fight that fight to see that we can get to the point that we can stop racism and not have it here.”

Nikki Haley: “As governor we had our share of crisis, we had snowstorms, we had a school shooting, we had a horrific church shooting, we had multiple hurricanes, we had a 1,000-year flood, there was no shortage. But what didn’t happen in South Carolina, is we never pulled each other apart, we leaned in. We leaned into prayer, we leaned into unity, we leaned into helping each other, that’s what we got to do in the country. When I was at the UN, I dealt with Russia, China, and Iran every day. That American spirit has to be strong. I told countries what America was for and what America was against. I didn’t care if they didn’t like me, but I wanted them to respect America. We need to get unified and patriotic and we need to let our enemies know what we expect of them. When we start to do that, that’s when America will get back on track.

Alicia: The country we can agree is divided, angry, even Elmo found out, that we are not right. As President, how do you plan on fixing that?

Nikki Haley: “I think we have to go back and take people back to the values that made our country so great, we have got big issues, our country is in disarray, the world is on fire, the best way to deal with that is to come together as Americans and say we can take this head-on, and we can do it together, we don’t do it by dividing each other, we don’t do it by hating each other, we don’t do it by blaming each other, we do it by getting our country back on track, that is what I’m determined to do.”

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