Nikki Haley At Meeting Of The Far Right ‘Council For National Policy’
The CNP holds its meetings in the strictest secrecy, refusing entrance to members of the media and keeping the locations of its events private.
Harper’s Magazine / Blog (10/17/18)
Nikki Haley’s surprising resignation on October 4 as US ambassador to the United Nations fueled rumors about the underlying reasons for its suddenness and timing. Was she positioning herself for a future Senate or presidential campaign? The speculation about the forty-six-year-old former South Carolina governor’s future was accompanied by a wave of media praise that recast her as a moderate alternative to the hypernationalist commander in chief. “Nikki Haley Will Be Missed” was how the New York Times editorial board headlined its assessment of Haley’s time at the United Nations. The editors praised her as a “pragmatic envoy” whose role was “constructive” and who “can exit the administration with her dignity largely intact.” They went on to urge President Trump to appoint “a replacement in her mold.” The New Yorker, meanwhile, headlined the news as “A Hopeful Sign for Opponents of Trump.”
The applause reached its peak when Haley boasted of the pivotal role she played in cutting off American aid to millions of destitute Palestinian refugees through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
Less than a week before her resignation, Ambassador Haley made a pilgrimage to a decidedly immoderate, highly secretive organization of right-wing, mostly evangelical Republican operatives known as the Council for National Policy, or CNP. Her appearance before the group featured her last major speech before she announced that she would leave her official post. There was no public notice, no transcript. I was present as the only journalist inside the closed-door gathering.
Haley’s appearance before the CNP was structured like a campaign fund-raiser, opening with a prepared stump-style speech that segued into an informal question-and-answer session. …