Nikki Haley, the former Ambassador to the UN and governor of South Carolina, visited Laconia this past week, hosting a “Town Hall” meeting as she continues in her bid to win the Republican presidential nomination. It was very well-attended- so much so, that aides spent a bit of time prior to its start deploying more chairs to accommodate the steady stream of people coming through the door.

She talked for roughly half an hour before taking questions from the audience. She started with the story of her life as the child of immigrants and growing up. She spoke of how she first got into politics and worked her way up to being the Governor of South Carolina. She touted her accomplishments in that state, including its rise as an economic powerhouse here in the East. She then described her time as Donald Trump’s Ambassador to the United Nations where she honed her foreign policy chops.

Ambassador Haley went on to outline the many problems we currently face here in Joe Biden’s America, from the economy to the threats girls face as males enter into female sports, to the decline of our educational system. She talked at great length about the decline of respect throughout the world for the US and why that is dangerous.

Following that, she listed what she plans on doing should she become president. On the economy, she would seek to recover as much as possible of the unspent Covid money still hanging out there. Rather than the 87,000 IRS agents pursuing middle Americans, she would seek the fraudsters and their billions in stolen funds. Balance the budget. She will veto any spending bills that don’t take us back to pre-Covid levels. Entitlement reforms. Pay down debt. Empower parents. Promote vocational programs. Support law enforcement. Enforce E-Verify. Fire the 87,000 IRS agents and instead add 25,000 new Border Patrol agents to enforce our border. (This brought much applause) She listed other tough on illegal immigration measures as well.

Of COURSE she spoke on foreign policy and talked on how a strong military PREVENTS wars and also emphasized the need to regain our recently dropped energy independence.

You can watch the entire talk here in this exclusive Bastion video and listen for yourself. The crowd was rather enthusiastic in hearing her message. It was VERY refreshing to hear a candidate spend time outlining the country’s problems and offering concrete solutions, rather than bashing the Republican opponents in the race. I’m certain that attendees appreciated that as well.

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During the Q & A, one of the topics she touched upon in depth was the situation in Ukraine. While I didn’t ask the question, I had my hand raised to ask about this very matter. She went over a few points, and then said THIS:

“I don’t think we should give Ukraine money. I don’t think we should put troops on the ground.”

Again, you can watch this for yourself.

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What are YOUR thoughts? Feel free to share a comment. Also, please recall this disclaimer:

_{The Bastion is well situated here in New Hampshire and pretty much has a front-row seat to our long standing First in the Nation Primary. The season has officially begun and the candidates are starting to line up. We plan on bringing as much information as comes our way to present to you, our readers. Keep in mind that as we share materials and reports, we are not anywhere close to endorsing a particular candidate over another. The Bastion Beavers are a diverse group, and we will most likely have our individual favorites that may not line up with one another. This will not prevent us from covering any candidate that comes our way.}