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Replacing Haley won’t be that easy

Some in the White House are not especially fond of Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who became this country’s ambassador to the United Nations under President Donald Trump.

Still, there is evidence Trump himself understood her great value to Americans.

Haley revealed last week that she will step down from her post at the end of the year.

There has been speculation that after six years as governor and nearly two in the ambassador’s job, she feels the need to turn to the private sector for financial reasons. Haley is not a wealthy woman.

For his part, Trump seems to be going out of his way to make it clear Haley’s departure is not his idea.

“Hopefully, you’ll be coming back at some point,” he told her in public on Tuesday.

Haley has rubbed some White House aides the wrong way. One example — a classic political quote — occurred during as a result of a failure to communicate by someone among the president’s aides.

It involved a mixup regarding economic sanctions against Russia. A White House aide told reporters Haley had been “momentarily confused” over administration policy.

“With all due respent, I don’t get confused,” Haley snapped back.

By most accounts, Haley has been respected both within the Trump administration and at the United Nations, even by other ambassadors whose countries sometimes are at odds with ours.

That is in large measure because she has been an excellent representative of Americans in dealing with the tangles of diplomacy.

Haley’s rhetoric, though clearly thought through well in advance, has made it clear she will not permit the United States to be pushed around in the world body.

That is precisely the kind of U.N. ambassador we Americans need, but have not always had.

Now, Trump must find a worthy successor to Haley. That will be difficult.

He should follow the model set in naming her. A Washington outsider with just enough experience in government to understand bureaucracies is desirable.

Someone with individuality like Haley’s — but with a firm grasp on defending this nation’s interests, is vital.

Someone like Nikki Haley, in other words.

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