Nikki Haley

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome former governor of South Carolina and ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. Great to be back at CPAC. I'm always happy to be here with my fellow conservatives. In case you didn't notice, the liberal media's heads are exploding about my run for president and we all know why. The media can't stand the fact that I'm a conservative. Think about it. I'm a woman, I'm a minority, and I'm the daughter of immigrants. I am proof that liberals are wrong about everything they say about America. When I launched my campaign I said every politician over 75 years old should be required to take a mental competency test. Have you seen DC lately? We should start with Joe Biden and we shouldn't stop there. Now Don Levin didn't seem to like that too much. He claimed I'm not in my prime, in which I responded, hold my beer. I'm 51. That's younger than Don Levin. It's also younger than Hunter Biden and it's 30 years younger than Joe Biden. But Don says women have to be in their 20s or 30s to be in their prime and the left say we're sexist. Liberals are the most sexist by far. For the record, I was right. Every politician and judge should have to take a competency test. If you want to start at age 50, I'm good with that too. I didn't say the same for sexist middle-age anchors, but Don Levin proved CNN should probably consider that as well. Liberals attack me because they don't like who I am or what I say. I'm running for president to stop America's downward spiral toward socialism and end the self-loathing that has taken over our country. I'm running for president to renew an America that's strong and proud, not weak and woke. When I look to the future, I see our country rededicated to freedom and opportunity. But when I look at the present, I see the total opposite. Joe Biden and the Democrats are giving us oppression, poverty and lawlessness. This is not the America that called to my parents 50 years ago. And make no mistake, this is not the America I'm going to leave to my children. The Democratic Party is now a socialist party. Bernie Sanders and AOC, at least they own it. Look at how much taxpayer money that Biden has wasted since he took office. On Joe Biden's watch, we hit $31 trillion in national debt. He's put us on track to add $20 trillion more in the next 10 years. And by the way, some Republicans have helped him do that. We need to stop with the earmarks and pet projects once and for all. Joe's only regret is that he hasn't spent more. He wants more handouts to illegal immigrants, more bailouts to rich college students and more carve outs to big labor and big business. He doesn't mind spending so much because he knows it's your money that he's spending. And the only thing Joe Biden needs to spend more of is more time in retirement. One of my heroes, Margaret Thatcher, said the problem with socialism is you end up running out of other people's money. This failed president is trying to prove it. But the socialist Democrats don't just want to spend our money. They want to take our They think they have a right to order us around, from light bulbs we use to the words that we speak. And now they want to ban gas-powered cars and gas stoves. When it comes to destroying our freedom, the socialist Democrats will never stop. It's time for the American people to stop then. Socialism is weakening our country at the worst possible moment. We need an economy that can outcompete China. But the only competition Democrats want is the one on who's most triggered. We need families who are thriving and confident. But liberals have given them the highest inflation in 40 years and the lowest confidence in history. And we need our military to be stronger than ever. But what does Joe Biden have our troops doing? Taking gender pronoun classes. Now, I'm the wife of a combat veteran, and that disgusts me. Our troops already know the difference between men and women. They also know that we need a different commander in chief. It's not just our military. On Biden and Harris's watch, this woke self-loathing has swept our country. It's in the classroom, the boardroom, in the back rooms of government. We're told our country is flawed, rotten, and full of hate. Joe and Kamala even say that America's racist. Wokeness is a virus more dangerous than any pandemic hands down. I have traveled the world and back, and I've seen what's out there. America isn't perfect, but the principles at the heart of America are perfect. And take it from me, the first minority female governor in history, America is not a racist country. I will get the self-loathing out of our schools. I will get the self-destruction out of our culture. And once we make America proud, we will make America strong. And this starts by bringing back law and order. In my administration, police and Border Patrol will know that we have their backs. And criminals and illegal immigrants will know that we have their number. And I'll restore faith in our elections, too. As governor, I signed voter ID in 2011. The media went crazy, and I was vilified for it. They said I was trying to disenfranchise voters. So I called their bluff. I said, anyone that is unable to get an ID, we will go pick them up, take them to the DMV, give them a free ID, and return them home safely. Out of 5 million people in South Carolina, you know how many people asked for a ride? 25. Now South Carolina has more people voting than ever before. And it's racist to think that minorities are incapable of getting an ID for themselves. I'll make America strong at home. We'll have safe streets, secure elections, and a strong economy that lifts up everyone, not just a select few. And I'll restore our strength in the world. I'll make our armed forces of the United States more powerful and capable than ever before. Never forget, a strong military doesn't start wars. A strong military prevents wars. I'll bring the same strength to the White House that I brought to the United Nations. As ambassador, I said we'd have the backs of our allies. But I also told them that anyone that didn't have our backs, we'd be taking names. Remember what happened when we moved the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem? 128 countries condemned us. So I took names. I went to my office and I had my staff put a list together. They listed all 193 countries. The second column, I wanted them to say the percentage of times they voted with the United States and against the United States. And then I wanted the last column to show how much foreign aid we gave them. Guess what? We give billions of dollars every year to countries that undermine America every day. They stab us in the back and then they turn around and have their hand out wanting money. Some of them even support terrorists that try and kill our troops. To this day, we're giving foreign aid to Pakistan, Iraq, the Palestinians, and even communists Cuba and China. We need to stop trying to buy friends and all we're doing is paying off our enemies. When I'm president, we will stop giving money to countries that hate America. Our enemies think they can walk all over us. Did you ever think that Americans would look to the sky and see a Chinese spy balloon looking back down at us? It was a national embarrassment. Make no mistake, communist China is the strongest, most disciplined enemy we've ever faced. We need to hold China accountable and we need to start with COVID. And before we even talk about the cartels, we need to confront the fact that China is the one sending the fentanyl across the border. I can't believe that Biden is letting China get away with so much. Chinese companies now own more than 380,000 acres of American soil, some of it right next to our military bases. What are we doing? We should never let enemies own land in our country. And we should tell every single university, you can either have Chinese money or you can have American money, but you don't get both. China thinks the American era has passed. So do our enemies. But they're wrong. America is not past our prime. It's just that our politicians are past theirs. It is time that we have term limits once and for all in Washington, D.C. Americans deserve better than the way we're living today. And I'm confident we can take our country to her best days. The plan I'm calling for will do just that. It's fundamentally conservative and profoundly American. And I know we can unite our people. But real unity doesn't come from faint hearts or watered-down compromises. Real national unity comes from boldly proclaiming our national purpose. It comes from standing on principle and persuading opponents to stand with us, like I did when I was governor and when I was ambassador. I'll take this message far and wide in the days ahead. But I have a particular message for you, my fellow conservatives. We've lost the popular vote in the last seven out of eight presidential elections. Our cause is right, but we have failed to win the confidence of a majority of Americans. That ends now. If you're tired of losing, put your trust in a new generation. And if you want to win, not just as a party, but as a country, then stand with me. I'm here to ask for your vote, but I want something else even more. I want us to inspire our country again. Together, we can summon our fellow citizens to look past the failed ideas and leaders from Washington and find the courage to be part of the solution. I truly believe we can make this vision real in our time, because that's what I've seen in my entire life. As a brown girl growing up in a black and white world, I saw the promise of America unfold before me. As the wife of a combat veteran, I saw our people's deep strength and the courage to defend it. As governor, I saw our state move beyond hate and violence and lift up everybody in peace. And as ambassador, I saw that America is still the standard. When we speak, the world listens. Where we lead, the world follows. Who we are, the world wants to be. This will always be the greatest nation in human history. Now we need to make it greater still. This is my purpose. This is our mission. Let's save our country from weakness and wokeness. Let's bring back a nation that's strong and proud. If anyone can do it, it's the American people. And I have faith that we will prove it again. Thank you, and God bless America.