Surrounded by the many governmental nonprofit and International Agencies and organizations that make decisions that affect each of us everyday. Our location here allows us to be part of those decisions, allows our students access to the uniquely dc t experiential learning opportunities, allows faculty to provide rigorous and highquality scholarshipip and research that informs policymaking and problem solving. It allows our university to serve as a hub for timely discussions importance and relevant to all of us. Tonight we are pleased to host former United States ambassador to the United Nations, nikki haley, in a discussion about her new book, with all due respect which offers a firsthand perspective on nationalch and International Matters as well as behindthescenes account of her tenure in the trump administration. Ambassador hayley will be joined tonight by moderator and United States senator joni ernst who in 2014 was elected as the first woman to serve in federal elected officede from the statef iowa. Please enjoy this evenings discussion. And thank you for being here. [applause]. When South Carolina governor nikki haley was sworn in she became the states first female governor. Results is what i promised the people and results is what im determined to give them. The governor said its the single largest Economic Investment in the state, more than 200 year history. Bowl manufacturing right here in charleston county. Its a great day inch South Carolina. 560 million invested. 1700 jobs right here in chester county. Its a great win. The best part of whats happened is watching all of these drops notch is going to cities, but going to rural South Carolina because if you can give a person a job you take care of a family and we have watched a lot of families get taken care of over the past couple of years president elect trump asked South Carolina governor nikki haley to be his ambassador to the United Nations and shes accepted n. The daughter of immigrants is considered a rising star the Republican Party and she would be the first woman appointed to trumps next. Are new ambassador to the United Nationshe is living proof of promise in america. For anyone that says you cant get anything done at the un, they need to know theres a new sheriff in town. Theres a new us un you will see a change the way we do business for those that dont have our back we are taking names. For too long the Human Rights Council of in a protector of human rights abusers. If for any reason north korea attacks the United States or our allies the us will respond period. She is so tough and she is so consistent and you just know youre not going to move her. Americans said we want our embassy in the capitalal and tht capital is jerusalem. America will put our embassy in jerusalemer. Thats what the American People want us to do and is the rating to dupe do. What we witnessed today is the Security Council is an insult. It wont be forgotten. Standing her ground un ambassadorenen making it clear. I will not shut up, rather i will respectfully imply the truth. Haley showed us what Foreign Policy looked like with a spine. You know, i dont think its a swagger. I think its passion im passionate about defending the United States. She says the worlds respect in the states again. I didnt know that i would be elected into the legislature. I took its know that i would be governor. I certainly never thought i would be the un ambassador. Even though im a private citizen now, i know i am too young to stop fighting. Ng [applause]. [cheers and applause] good evening. Welcome, everyone. Thank you so much. Thank you, everyone, for joining us tonight. We will have a wonderful discussion with Ambassador Nikki Haley. Can we say thank you toou her oe more time, please . Thank you. Thank you. President , thank you very much. Thank you for being here as well. We are going to have a lovely discussion this evening with ambassador hayley and we will start with about 45 minutes of questions and those are questions i will ask you, ambassador and then we will move on to about 15 minutes of questions from the audience, so ambassador, would you like to start with some remarks c . First of all, it is great to be at gw, i have to tell you. President , thank you for hosting us tonight and allowing us to be here. Sj, you are rockstar and we are excited to watch anything you do i was here on campus because our son is looking to come to gw next falle , so we will see if that happens. There is a bit of an application process that we have to go through first, but having said that thank you for having us. Seriously, i know i am here, but how cool is it to have the first female combat veteran in the senate here with us . Joni ernst. [cheers and applause] you were so nice to do this and sere just going to have a fun conversation and hang out for a bit, so that sounds great. When the folks from the ambassadors office called and my staff reached out to me and said you know, would you like to in the minute they said nikki i was like as. I didnt even know it was, so with that, ambassador, we are Getting Started and im going to take us back a bit in history because a lot of folks maybe dont know about your background or how you grew up, so we will start there because i think it really sets the stage for the wonderful years yet to calm and you really describe your american story and how you didnt quite fit in as the girl growing up in the south and what was that experience like for you growing up as the daughter, we all know, of indian immigrants w and you were living in rural South Carolina. We lived in a small town called van berg, South Carolina. We were the only indian family in that town. We were not wide enough to be white or black enough to be black. My father wore a turban and he still does to this day. My mother wore a sorry they did not not know what we were, we were or why we were there and i remember being on the playground coming home after being teased and my mom would say your job is not to show people how you are differentou. Your job is to show people how you are similar and its amazing how that lesson i learned on the playground played out in my life in the corporate world as a legislator, as governor, as ambassador because when you are faced with a challenge, if you first talk about what you agree on first, people let their guard down and then you are more likely to get to a solution by pushing through that challengee, so little did i know it turned out to be a great lesson along the way. What a great lesson on your mother is wise beyond her yearsr yes, she tells me that every day. Of course she does. Shes a great mom. Okay, so some folks may not realize that before you were Ambassador Nikki Haley and before you were governor nikki haley, you actually served in the legislature. Is that correct . I did. Whats interesting is my mom started a business from scratch and a few years into her business her accountant was going to leave and she needed to train someone and finally a few days before she left she said im getting concerned, we dont have someone to train and i happen to be walking by and my mom grabbed my arm and said train her, she can do it. She said but shes 13 and she said s train her, she will do i. So, at 13 i was balancing the bank account, writing out the checks, making sure we were doing bank despises deposits, the whole bit and it wasnt until i got to college that i realized that was not normal. Now i totally realize that was child labor, but through that process i developed a love of numbers and the fact that numbers tell a story and every problem can be fixed by moving the numbers around. D. Ended up graduating with a degree in accounting from Clemson University go tigers. Then i went on to the corporate world and got tired of working for the guys down the hall, came back home to the Family Business and one day i was sitting there complaining again and my mom was there and i was complaining out how hard it was to make a dollar and how easy it was for government to take it and my mom said quit complaining about it, do something about it. I did not know you were supposed to run against a 30 year incumbent in a primary. Eight truly did. Ignorance is bliss sometimes. Was not back in. College that ws in politics, that wasnt me, so once i realized what i had got myself into the only option was to win, so my husband was in the the backseaty kids and he was the longestserving legislator at that time in the state of South Carolina and i would knock on doors and not sai anything disparaging about him. I would say we appreciate what mr. Kuhn has done all of these years, but i think i can do Something Different and i also believe talked about me. I did talk about him and was fortunate enough to get elected. Then, fastforward a little bit, im in the legislature a few years and in South Carolina whenever they were passing legislation it was done by a voice vote your faber . All opposed . One day there was a piece of legislation that one across the desk that gave legislators pay raises. All in favor . All opposed, silence. To this day you cannot find one legislator that said they voted themselves a pay raisegi and i t really upset and went to the speaker of the house and i said this is why people dont trust us in the end of the next day i filed a bill that saidd anything important enough to be debated on the floor of the house where the senateho is important enough to have a vote on the record. The speaker called me and and said put the bill away. We dont need to have it. We will decide what the public needs to see and what they dont i remember going home that night and a talking to my husband saying n, if i can even get legislative of votes on the record what my doing here and he said then go fight. So, i went across the state of South Carolina and said did you know of all the bills passed int the house only 8 were on the record . Did you know about the bills passed in the senate only 1 was on the record . If you didnt know how your house member voted, 92 of the m time if you did know how your sender voted 9090 99 of the time, how did you know who to vote for when you got to the polls and the people of South Carolina were shockeds. To it all in perspective, my first year in office i was chairman of the freshman class and second year i was majority whip, third year i was put on a powerful Business Committee and fourth euros subcommittee chair a banking. Of the year and would have put bill away they stripped me of everything. I could go to the well. No one would hear a bill. I could try to get supporthe, couldnt get it, so i h ran for governor. [laughter] and you one. [applause]. Am proud to say one of the first bills we signed into law is now a South Carolina any piece of legislation that is debated on the floor of the house or the senate has to have a vote on the record and we took a step further and they have to show their vote on the record o every section of the budget as well. Very inspiring. [applause]. I love it. I love the transparency. So, this next question, folks, and this is a hard one. You have had such an inspirational life, nikki. Im going to go back to probably some very hard dark days. Days that you had asth governorf the beautiful state of South Carolina and many of you will know what im referencing, but out of despair can come inspiration and true leadership and so this next question, ambassador, you talk about the tragic killing of nine innocent at that Emmanuel African Episcopal Church in 2015 and during that time bringing the flag down of the confederate [inaudible] can you tell us a little bit about that time and how that incident affected the people in the state of South Carolina and then as well, if you can,ca what did you do to bring those of citizens together to reunite everyone . Well, and my heart goes out to the community in california that had the shooting today, i mean, with Something Like that happens, its not just the people in the room that are affected. Its the entire community affected, and on that night we had 12 people who did what so many people in South Carolina do on every wednesday night. They went to bible study, but on this night someone else showed up. She didnt look like them. He didnt sound like them and he didnt act like them. They didnt call the cops. They didnt throw him out. Instead, o they pulled up a char and they prayed with him for an hour and when they bowed their head in that last prayer he began to shoot. These were people she had lost her daughter two years prior to Breast Cancer and she had a broken heart, but she would go around the Mother Emmanuel Church cleaning the church and she was saying, one day at a time sweet jesus, thats all i ask of you straight to do every day what i to do. Ou our august Just Graduated College and was so excited about his life, but on that he stood in front of his 87year old great aunt susie and looked at the killer and said you dont have to do thisd , we mean no hm to you or it was people like his life was beat writer than necessary. Thats who these people were. They were not famous. A lot at people did not know them, but they loved their families, they loved their church in their community and when that happened it brought South Carolina to our knees. Was the first time we had had a shooting in a religious place and all he wanted to do was to protect the states because the National Media came in strong and they wanted to define it, talk about it and immediately debatess racism. They wanted to debate gun control. They wanted to debate the death penaltyth, you name it they were talking about it and i remember strongarming them back saying we are not going to do this spirit are going to give the time to the families are good there will be a time and place when we have those discussions, but not now. The next day the killer comes out with a manifesto and hes holding up the Confederate Flag. Now, the Confederate Flag flew in front of the statehouse in South Carolina. It used to be on the top of the dome and in the compromised in 2000, and he came in front of the statehouse. When he did that, we have a lot of people in South Carolina whoa have a Great Respect for the Confederate Flag, not out of reasons of hay, but out of the fact that its service and their handset stirs and sacrifice, that was the way they looked at it and then you had obviously the small minority that saw it for what it was, but he hijacked what that was. Take it a step further and go another day or two days after that and it was the first time the killer was going to be in the courthouse facing the judge and the families showed up unprompted, unplanned and one by one stood in front of the killer and for gave him. Thats forgiveness was so thoverwhelming that we didnt he protests. We had vigils. We didnt have violence, we had hugs and we went through a toss a few weeks there where we had to debate wheree that confedere flag needed to go and to the good people of South Carolina stepped up and the flag was moved to the museum and the people of South Carolina show the entire world what it means to get through a tragedy. [applause]. Out of despair there comes inspiration. I just want to thank thehe peope of South Carolina with your leadership, ambassador, for showing us how we get through those difficult times by sharing love with one another and not hatred and not violence, but love and forgiveness. Thank you for that. We are going to move ahead a little bit and talk about the next step from being governor to the great state of South Carolina and other like you to tell the audience a little bit you were offered the position to be the un ambassador and was it a difficult decision for you to make and what we really want to know also with what were those conversations like with President Donald Trump when he was asking you to take on this momentous position . Its interesting. I actually knew the president if you need years prior. After i won the primary for governor, the first time i received this envelope with this great gold trim and its had a checking it and there was a note that said you are a winner and a so i talked to to him than and we stayed in contact over the years. Then we had a republican primary was 60 people on the stage, a lot of talent on the stage and i put my backing on another candidate and it was around that time where he sent out a tweet that said, nikki haley is an embarrassment to South Carolina. In which i responded in a tweet, bless your hearts. [laughter] but, we really did have a respect for each other. I knew that if you kicked him he would holler and he knew if you push me i push back. Fast ford, he was the primary and i supported him in the general and i get a call from his new chief of staffge. He said i need you to come to new york i said for what he said the president elect wants to see you and i set about whats and he said secretary of state. I said secretary of state . I said i am a governor i cannot be secretary of state and he said he wants to see you when you need to come. So, come the next morning and go into his office. First thing the president says like a sugar i did when i guess your guy didnt win. [laughter] he couldnt help himself. I let him stew a little bit and then we had a great conversation , but i said im not your person. I said we have a lot going on in the world today, you dont need someone with a learning curve, but i want to be helpful and a supportive, anything i can do to help i will be happy to. Later that week brians calls again c and said dont say anything i just need you to listen. Us ambassador to the United Nations. I said i dont even know what the United Nations does. I just know everyone hates it. He said the president will call you on monday and i need you to think about this. We get home and my husbands on the computer and he said i think you would be good at this and it wasnt a good time because our son was 15. It would have been a tough time to move him and our daughter was a freshman in college. Michael and i, my husband, we take care of my parents who are in their 80s. My mom has parkinsons so it would have been a tough moved to new york, but the president called monday and said are you going to do this and i said sir, there would have to be conditions for me too consider and he said are they and i said i have been a governor and i dont want to work for anyone again. I would want to work directly with you so it would need toir e a cabinet position. He said, don. N. I said im a policy girl and i would want to be in the room when decisions are madee so i would need to be on theur natiol Security Council. He said, don. I said im not going to be a wallflower or a talking head and i need to be able towa say thati think and he said thats exactly why a want you to do this and he was true to his word from the first day to the last day. I love it. You know, i know we have a lot of young people in the audience and a lot of people ask me how i knew to ask for those things. What you have to remember is there is one lesson that i have learned to live by and that is pushed through the fear. When the challenge comes in front of you, your reaction is naturally to step back, but if you lean in and pushed through the fear you find out you are so much stronger on the other side. If i wouldve pushed through the fear i would not have become a legislator. If i had not pushed through the fear i would not have been governor. G i wouldnt have said i can be a un ambassador, but what you have to do when you push through the fear is set yourself up for success. I knew what i needed in order to be successful. So, dont be afraid to ask for the platform that you know will bring out the best in you. In fact is great advice and taking risks and challenging yourself and i think that is very good for so many folks engaging in their first career or looking at opportunities after college. The book is actually and everyone hopefully has a copy of the bookct, but is full of stors about working with President Trump in the white house as a member of his cabinet and im sure that there are plenty of stories and inside information that you can share. Can you shed light on some ofe the conversationsns that you had that would maybe be enlightening for the audience . A lot of people ask how i got out of the administration without a tweet. [laughter] really, it was just the fact that i was very honest with the president. I thought it was important to give him what i wanted forum my and i was governor, which is i wanted them to serve the people. I wanted them to be creative and he wanted them to speak up if t they saw me going in the wrong direction and so with the president i was always very honest with him and if he did something i thought was good i supported and push through and rallied, whatever needed to happen. If i saw him making what i thought was a wrong decision, i would call or meet with him and sayy i think this is a mistake and instead i think you should consider x. He would always say how do you see that playing out and we would discuss and he was really good about hearing other o opinions. Didnt mean i want all the time, but it meant he was open to listening, but he would often make like a little life interesting. This is one of many stories, but when it was the first time level we get the United Nations so at the United Nations there is one week out of the year where 193 countries said that the highest people in the highest caliber of their delegation to new york for one week in the name of peace and security every head of state comes in, gives a massive the speech meant for the world and so this was the president s first highlevel week speech. We had the meetings all lined us we approved everything and he gave me a call and said just want to touch base with you, did you get the speech and i said yes, sir i did its fantastic, and it was. I said i really want to set the tone for you. I said the un is a different kind of a place. I said its serious, so when you give your speech, its not like a rally. I said they are not going to cheer for you, but dont take it personally. I said i want you to think of it like church i just like church. He said church, got it, got it. He said, but i had this one thing, i had this idea want to run past you and i said okay. He said i was thinking about calling what if i referred to kim as little rocket man in the speech. [laughter]. [screams]we sit down the north n delegations in the front and then he goes and he says it. And everybody sitting there, and they have their translator pieces in. Then all of a sudden you see them go. [laughter] and then they started to laugh. But a few hours later i am nmeeting with them. [laughter] and then they are laughing. In a hundred more. [laughter] never a doe moment. One topic that i am always very interested in is the leadership and there is a chapter in the book if i dont get confused. And its womens leadership. As a woman, what does it mean to quote know the power of your voice. Which is something that you do reference quite a bit in your book. Can you explain that force. I always thought that people should use the power of their voice. You really can move things when you use it at the right place at the right time with the right tone. I think it is something that you learn over time of when thehe right time is, you always hear pick and choose your battles and as you get further along in life you get better at it. I have a 24 hour rule that a triton use, i dont always use it but i try to use it, it is something as hot and moving into so your Blood Pressure going up and it is dramatic, and he can wait 24 hours, usually by the next morning, you are more tempered, your thinking more clearly in the right things come out. But the other thing you have to learn, usual voice to protect yourself. Ot and the book, with all due respect, came from a time where i needed to insert my voice, and it came from the fact that we had a meeting, national Security Council meeting and everyone had decided were gonna put sanctions on russia. And i talked to the president the next day after that, we were Going Forward wither the sanctis and i was never on the sunday shows unless the white house asked me too be. They asked me too be on face the nation that sunday morning so i go on, were discussing the issue with russia and i said, sanctions are coming down on russia, Steven Mnuchin had sanctions coming down if he had not already brought them down. And then we left it. I get a call from stephen who is a great friend, i get a call that afternoon and he said we have a little bit of a problem. And i said what happened and he said the president changed his mind. He said he is not going to do the sanctions. Its fine, a president can noise change their mind, theres nothing wrong with that. I do not fault him in any way for that. Yet another strategy and that was fine. I said just fix it, go tell them that, he said theyre going to come out with a statement in the morning and hopefully thatll get address. Next morning the statement comes out and does not fix it, the press is still asking the question, why did nikki say there were sanctions, where the sanctions and what is happening. So i called multiple people on the ministration, chief of staff, secretary of state, National Security advisor fulton at the time and i said we have a problem,th there is nothing wrog with the president changing his mind just go out and tell theen truth. But everybody is calling our office saying you need to fix this and they said okay, that was monday and Tuesday Morning happens in the level is rising. And i said, okay, this is the deal, you fix it by 5 00 p. M. Or im going to fix it by 5 00 p. M. And it will go a lot better if you all fix it. T. Nothing happened and then i think it was like 445 or so and my friend larry kudlow goes on front of the press and they asked the question about the sanctions and he said i think nikki just got momentarily confused so that was it. And i happened to look at the television and the five was getting ready to come on fox, i called myy friend dana and i sad can you call me real quick. She called and she said hey whats up, i need to put out a statement and she said okay, what is it. I said will you just say one sentence. With all due respect i dont get confused. [applause] she said thats it and i said thats it. Ill text it to you so you have it inil writing. So she goes and she does it and within ten minutes larry calls me, nikki im so sorry, you know i love you, i had my tail between my legs and i said larry, what point do you say i am confused and he said i know, i shouldnt have done that, trust me i will make it up too e and i said no you will make it up to me and you go out there and tell them you are wrong and i wasnt him he said i cannot and i said yes you can and you she will and he did in fairness to him he went on contact the reporter but what was surprising to me, how it went from a simple moment of me defending myself and how it went viral across the country on tshirts, mugs on everything and it goes to show so many people have been in a moment and i hope the lesson you take from the is no one is going to protect your integrity but you. So people can say theyre going to do it and say theyre going to do it but at the end of the day you have to do. Its all you have. And you have to know how to protect herself. That was another lesson learned. A powerful voice and we are glad that you been able to defend yourself. I love that, that is true strength. You dont have to be hateful to get your point across. So really you think the power of your voice, you have used the power of your voice in certain circumstances to pull people together after tragedy, you used the power of your voice toop defend herself but there are other times and every member this quite clearly when you use the power of your voice to have the backs of our allies when you are serving as ambassador to the United Nations and i remember this, how many of you remember taking names. [applause] taking names of those who dont have our allies backs and i remember that quite clearly and oh my gosh, i was really impressed, so if you would just explain to us, what is taking names mean to you . I really did not think it was going to ripple in russia as many feathers as it did and thats when i realized i was not that much of a diplomat. And when i went to the United Nations i obviously did a crash course in Foreign Policy and studied who our friends were, who are foes were, what are conflict were, what we needed to work on. But i purposely did not study the dues and the donts of the un. I wanted to go on there with fresh eyes, iog wanted to know,i do not want the bureaucracy to get away. When i went in and first i went to go talk to the press the first time i said look, its a new day, the United States mission at the united nation, it itewas important to me that countries did not have to like us but i wanted them to know what we were for. I wanted it to be clear what the u. S. Was for and what it was against and not give great areas to them in the process. I told him, we are going to have the backs of our allies and taking names of those that are not with us. What i saw at the United Nations, young 193 countries, most who resent us on any given day, every day felt like you had to put on body armor, you knew you were going to havee a fight you just did not know which country was going to be. But they would jab in job but then they would turn around and have the handout for foreign aid. That was the part that bothered me. In a perfect example, pakistan, we were giving pakistan a billion dollars of aid for their military. And they were turning around and harboring tariffs that were trying to kill her soldiers. It did not makeyi sense. That was not been a good partner, they were not having our back and we will no longer give that billion dollars to npakistan anymore. [applause] it does not mean they cannot be a friend in the future but it means we have to change the way we do our relationships. I think that was really important. Having the backs of our friends, i went in there and it was almost like reliving the feeling when i was a 5yearold on the playground and seen the way israel was bullied at the United Nations was the most unconscionable thing id ever seen. Here you have a country that is a bright spot in a reallyte touh neighborhood, they share our Democratic Values and all of arch values thate we share and use all israel constantly kick and kick and kick because they always have been. So they would have this one session on the middle east every single month and we have plenty of issues in the middle east but all they would ever talk about is israel. I came to refer to it is israel bashing session. It was taking names of our friends and names of our foes and making sure everybody knew we were holding each one of them to account. [applause] i do want to be cognitive over time, i have one more general question that we can use as allencompassing. But following the same theme, taking names and using the power of your voice, i think this one is really important. You were an outspoken champion for human rights while you were atan the un. Including in areas such as venezuela, syria and the democratic public of congo. In much of your advocacy came from the time you spent visiting so those affected areas by war and conflict. So we thank you foror doing tha, can you tell us a little bit about the experiences and how they shape your work at the unitedpe nation. I think that everybody deserves human dignity. And the unfortunate part about the job at the un, you go to places that most americans wont go, most americans dont want to go. And you see some things you cannot unseat. I would always make a point to ask when we go to an area to sit in ait room with a group of womn no offense to the phallus and the audience but the women had a way, you could sit down with them and you could tell them what the problem t was, how they got to that point and how to fix it. They were very clear on it. In many cases i would see refugees and in many cases they started their own businesses and focused onr their kids, they jt really always had what was needed. For example i went to jordan and turkey we were talking on Syrian Refugees and it was the women who was able to tell me how their children needed psychological help because they had seen so manyec things. What they were dealing with in terms of finding jobs, when we went to the south sudan refugee camp, there was one woman that i talked to and she started to tell me the story of how she had six kids and she cannot look them in the eye t in the morning for breakfast. And i said she started to cry and i said why cant you look at your children. And she said because they saw me get raped in front of them. And so you hear the stories and it was at that camp that there were 100 women in the room and i was sitting on a chair, these women would start to tell these stories and before one would start crying and before we knew it whole room had started crying because they had all been traumatized. So i start on the chair and up on the floor hugging them and helping them and you really do realize that every person deserves the freedom and the ability to worship and to be safe and all of those things, theres a lot of places in the world that dont dot that. My parents reminded my brothers, my sister and me every day how blessed we were to live in america. You go to those places and you come back in you realize that we truly are very a blessed. [applause] we are. Thank you very much nikki. We are going to move into audience questions and this is a current event, one that we experienced in recent weeks but audience question number one, how do you feel about the removal of armed forces out of syria and what next actions would you personally recommend to the United States government to doec next . This is a tough one, i think i disagreed strongly with us pulling our forces out of syria. The reason is, the curtainis ben there and fought alongside us against terrorism for years. They have lost a lot of blood, 11000 had lost their lives and it goes back to taking names. You have the backs of your allies, you take names of the enemies, the kurds have been allies with us, they fought alongside us and i understand the President Point of wanting to get out of endless wars, and none of us wants to be at work. But the asset of having troops on the ground especially for intelligence purposes is so important. When you saw the terrorist albaghdadi get killed, it is because those troops were on the ground, is because they had the ability to communicate and know where he was. I think thats what wee have to remember, we have military forces we have them in japan and south korea and all over the world and not because were in the war but prevention. Its to make sure we dont get into another war and intel to make sure we know whats happening on the ground. Im glad the president has decided to leave forces whether to watches the oilfield or keep intelligence on the ground, but in hotspots like that i strongly believe we need to have ath footprint, it does not need to be large, you look afghanistan, we had over 100,000 troops at one point, now were down to 14000, i hope we get lower than that. By having those people on the ground, my husband is a combat veteran and served in afghanistan and having those people on the ground that can report back and tell you what is going on and you know that better than anybody, that is so important. I hope we can continue to keep it on the ground and continue to let the kurds know that we appreciate the partnership over the years. [applause] we do need those forces on the ground, and we need a few more of those dogs to how about that. Give it up for the dog conan. Our second audience question, Ambassador Haley, what led you to conservativism . Thats interesting question, when i was running for office the first time, i did not know if i was republican or democrat. And imo remember my friend sayi, i told her i wanted to run for office and actually when my mom said do something about it i decided i wanted to run and i started talking to different people and everybody gave me a reason why i should not do it. I was too young, i had small children, i should start at the school board level not at the state level. All these reasons not to do it. Interestingly enough, i went to a womens Leadership Event at the university and Hillary Clinton was there. And she happened to say, for all the reasons people tell you not to do it, thats exactly the reason you should. So Hillary Clinton is actually the reason, i may not agree with her on a lot of things but shes the reason i made the jump. So then i had to figure out if i was republican or democrat. So my friend said are you republican or democrat and i said i dont know and she said, do you think government should tell you hundreds to live your life or do you think you should decide it. And i said no, i want to decide how to live my life. She said, do you think that government should control how you spend your money or should you control how you spend your money and i said if i work hard, i want to spend my money and she said, will do you think government can fix more things than not. And i say government messes up more than it fixes. And she said honey youre a republican. A [laughter] [applause] the next audience question that we have, as a first generation american of immigrant parents of southerners, a female and conservative, how would you respond to those who dont feel the Republican Party is welcoming to minorities and women . I think the Republican Party can always do better. I think we should always want to be better. No matter what situation we are in and i look at the fact, youre a strong republican woman, we have some strong republican women, we need to continue to encourage women, i want women involved republican or democrat, were 51 of the voting population and we need to have as many women out there using the power of their voices who can. [applause] do i wanted to be republican, of course i do. But having said w that, it is really tough right now, what i have found, the left is really hard on republican women. They really give us at hard time if we dont think like theyy do. And you can turn on the tv and you see how toxic it is and all the reasons it would be tough for women to do that. Im constantly being hit from the left for being a woman are being indian, i saw Elise Stefanik yesterday for being hit by the left as well and we just get badger. The only way to fix that is to get more of us out there and worry using the part of her voice. I actually saw ben shapiro give a speech and he was criticizing antisemitism and hate against the groups and the left came out against him. I think republicans get a bad rap and i think we can certainly do better, the one thing i voice had been an Indian American, republicans should not wait for minorities to come to them, we should go to those groups, ive always said you should go to places that are uncomfortable to go one, because you will learn something. To because you open doors of communication you never had. I see that with the Indian American community, the jewish community, i see it was so many that the Republican Party needs to do a better job of going out there and i think the Republican Party needs to do a better job of voicing it when the lef lefts them so they cannot have the double standard and bash the women on our side. [applause] great point. I live everyday. Were living in interesting times. We have a few minutes left before 8 00 p. M. And i am going to ask the last question and i do think its very appropriate for the day in the age that we live in right now, the final audience question that we have for Ambassador Haley, bipartisanship seems dead and american politics, what can american politicians do to bridge the divide and bring more stability back to american politics. It is very toxic time right now. It is uncomfortable, you know it is bad because if someone put down a good piece i of policy Everyone Wants to know who it is before they supported. Thats when we know weve had a low. The part that i think that bothers me, we have watched both parties, now refer to each other as evil. And that hits a soft point with me because i have seen evil. I have been to the democratic republic of congo with use race as a weapon of war. Ive been to south sudan where i met with women who have said military cayman, took their babies from them and threw them ainto a fire and force them to eat the babies flesh. I have been on the bridge watching thousands of venezuelans walk hours in the heat, holding their babies to get the one meal they might get that day, the average venezuelan adult has lost 24 pounds. Ive had to look at pictures of children who have died from chemical weapons by asad in syria. That is evil. What we have in our country are real issues that deserve reall debate. But we need to be responsible and realize that through all of that real debate still on our worst day we are blessed to live in america and we need to be edgrateful for. [applause] before we end i want to take a point of personal privilege, you cannot write a book like this up or your heart and soul out without having a fantastic partner to write it with. I had an amazing collaborator and shes here tonight, jessica we stand up please and let everybody see your face. Thank you. ,. Fantastic. This has been in an enjoyable evening, Ambassador Haley thank you so much and before we release the audience, we have one last thing that we would like to do in addition to our thanks, thank you so much for the wonderful hospitality that you have shown at the universi university, again thank you for your wonderful leadership as well, its a pleasure to get to know you. And what we would like to finish, can you explain what were going to do. Were going to memorialize the moment. With a selfie. [laughter] so everybody hold up your book. We have a photographer coming. Thank you, you all look spectacular. O[inaudible conversations] [applause] the house will be in order. For 40 years cspan has been providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the Supreme Court and Public Policy event from washington, d. C. And around the country so you can make up your own mind created by cable in 1979. Cspan is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. Cspan, your unfiltered view of government. Up next, book tv monthly indepth program with author and Princeton University prevents or under professor. Her books include profits of the hood, may we forever stand in the recently published wreath, a letter to my son. Professor, what is