Will Nikki Haley Be The First Female US President?

She's the sheriff in high heels, who promises to kick her opponents into touch and as Donald Trump's Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley is already being picked as a future president

- Nick Bryant

Amidst all the fire and fury of Donald Trump’s first year in office, many in his orbit have seen their reputations either burned or torched. Some have been sacked. Others have been forced to resign. One, the former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, has faced criminal indictment. Most of the women in the Trump inner circle have had a torrid time. Melania Trump cuts a forlorn figure, a reluctant First Lady trapped in an unhappy marriage. Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, has faced a boycott of her clothing brand and been ostracised by New York high society.

One woman, though, has emerged as a star of the new administration, her reputation not only intact but enhanced. Nikki Haley, America’s Ambassador at the United Nations, has become the female face of the Trump’s administration’s controversial foreign policy. An Indian-American politician, whose birth name was Nimrata Randhawa, she is already being spoken of as a future president – maybe the first woman to shatter one of the most resilient glass ceilings in world politics. Washington watchers thought they may have glimpsed the future when Nikki Haley appeared last year at the podium of the White House briefing room wearing a black zipper outfit that wags on Twitter joked made her look like a galactic president. Certainly, it confirmed her stratospheric rise.

Nikki Haley, a former Governor of South Carolina who speaks with a Steel Magnolia twang, announced herself as America’s top diplomat at the UN with characteristically undiplomatic language. “I wear heels,” she said. “It's not for a fashion statement. It's because if I see something wrong, we're going to kick them every single time.” Her personal motto is, “Kick ’em with a smile.”