Niki Haley–Trump’s Worst Mistake

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Niki Haley is a disaster as foreign policy mouthpiece.  One might use of her what Mencken unfairly said of Bryan:  "a zany without sense or dignity."  Of course she is a good deal more virile than South Carolina's distinguished Senator Lindsay Graham, but that can be said of Chelsea Manning.  Butching it up for the press in difficult matters of war and peace is exactly what the United States does not need, and her recent ridiculous tirade gave the Russians one more opportunity to ridicule the cynicism--and amateurism--of the US foreign policy establishment.

Serious nations do not act like North Korea:  They do not threaten and bluster.  They act when they have to and act decisively.  It is or used to be an American tradition.  I would not expect a female of her ethnic and religious background to understand this, but that is one more reason why she should not be in a position that has the illusion--thank goodness, not the reality--of power.

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Thomas Fleming

Thomas Fleming is president of the Fleming Foundation. He is the author of six books, including The Morality of Everyday Life and The Politics of Human Nature, as well as many articles and columns for newspapers, magazines,and learned journals. He holds a Ph.D. in Classics from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a B.A. in Greek from the College of Charleston. He served as editor of Chronicles: a Magazine of American Culture from 1984 to 2015 and president of The Rockford Institute from 1997-2014. In a previous life he taught classics at several colleges and served as a school headmaster in South Carolina