Key Point: “In her recent book, With All Due Respect, though, Haley embellishes the truth about her days at the UN. She hails the supposedly tough stances she took there in service of Trump’s erratic foreign policy as tremendous diplomatic achievements. 

Yet two supposed wins she highlights were hollow and produced little in real-world results that bolstered the security of the United States. They arguably made the world less safe.”

Mother Jones: Nikki Haley Touts an Embellished Account of Her UN “Triumphs”

By: David Corn

• When the super PAC supporting Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign released its first ad touting the former Republican South Carolina governor, the spot led with her service as United Nations ambassador during the Trump administration. Opening with a shot of Haley at the UN, the 30-second ad declared, “Nikki Haley fought America’s enemies at the UN and won.” In her recent book, With All Due Respect, though, Haley embellishes the truth about her days at the UN. She hails the supposedly tough stances she took there in service of Trump’s erratic foreign policy as tremendous diplomatic achievements. Yet two supposed wins she highlights were hollow and produced little in real-world results that bolstered the security of the United States. They arguably made the world less safe.

• The UN sanctions she helped enact were hardly the first penalties levied on the North Korean regime for its development of nuclear weapons. 

• The sanctions Haley had helped engineer were not working. Her third round of sanctions approved by the UN in December also did not change Kim’s tune. 

• But she claims that when she finished at the UN, due to the sanctions she engineered and other measures implemented by the United States, the North Korea situation was “in a better place in 2019 than…in 2016 and 2017.” 

• Despite the UN sanctions, North Korea continued to conduct test launches of ballistic missiles and develop more weapons and nuclear material. Thanks to Trump’s meetings with Kim, this tyrant became less isolated and was granted more latitude within the global community. The nuclear threat posed by North Korea was not less; it was likely greater.

• In her book, Haley points to Iran’s aggression—such as the seizing of international ships in the Strait of Hormuz—to justify Trump’s decision “to withdraw from what was a terrible deal.” She cites ending the supposed appeasement of Iran as one of the accomplishments of the Trump administration that occurred during her time at the UN. Yet none of this slowed Iran’s nuclear program.

• Not surprisingly, the “better deal” Trump promised never materialized. (Haley neglects to mention this.) And nonproliferation experts say that in the years following Trump’s withdrawal—and his imposition of new sanctions on Tehran—Iran moved closer to a nuclear weapon. Even in her book, Haley acknowledges that “the Iranian regime has begun enriching uranium beyond the level permitted in the agreement.” So what was the big win for Haley here? Her actions at the UN did nothing to restrain Iran.

• Haley and her campaign crow that at the UN she battled America’s foes and prevailed. But her account of her heroic exploits at the international body are overblown. More important, her actions did not address the nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran that imperil the United States and its allies. Her book demonstrates she can talk tough; it also shows she has a tough time sticking to the truth.