(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Using her brief stint at the United Nations to present herself as a foreign policy expert, presidential hopeful and virulent neocon Nikki Haley has loudly and frequently called for the U.S. to escalate its presence in the Ukraine war.
But during Wednesday’s GOP presidential debate, Haley was stumped when asked to name three Ukrainian provinces she would like to use American blood and treasure to defend. Haley was asked this question by competitor Vivek Ramaswamy, who has called for peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.
Ramaswamy pointed out that many war hawks are starting to come around to his viewpoint that U.S. involvement in an Eastern European dispute is a dangerous fool’s errand. But Haley still sits in President Joe Biden’s camp when it comes to pushing for total war, he said.
“Foreign policy experience isn’t the same as foreign policy wisdom … One thing Joe Biden and Nikki Haley have in common is that neither of them could state for you three provinces in eastern Ukraine that they actually want to send our troops to fight for,” Ramaswamy said.
Instead of quickly naming three provinces, Haley stood there with a blank look on her face. Ramaswamy urged viewers to take stock of the embarassing situation.
“Look at that: This is what I want people to understand. These people—she has no idea what the hell the names of those provinces are that she wants to send our sons and daughters and our troops and military equipment to go fight for,” Ramaswamy remarked.
“So, reject this myth that they’ve been selling you—that someone who had a cup of coffee at the UN and makes $8 million after has real foreign policy experience.”
Haley reportedly did eventually name three provinces: Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea. However, Crimea has been Russian territory since 2014.
Haley was lambasted by all corners of the internet for her debate performance.
However, the establishment continues to embrace her. Last week, Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime banker endorsed her for president.
“Even if you’re a very liberal Democrat, I urge you, help Nikki Haley, too. Get a choice on the Republican side that might be better than Trump,” JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said last Wednesday at a conference hosted by the New York Times’ DealBook franchise.
And Haley’s big-money backing reportedly has her rising in the polls, her globalist anti-liberty policy positions notwithstanding. A recent CNN poll put Haley showed that about 20% of the voters supported her in New Hampsire, putting her in second place behind Trump in that state.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.