NEW YORK — Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is launching her own radio talk show on SiriusXM next week. The plan is to air at least once a week until the inauguration of a new president.
She’ll be doing interviews, taking listener calls and talking politics on the show, which airs Wednesdays from 8 to 9 p.m. ET on the satellite radio system’s Triumph channel. Expect some chats about Clemson football, her passion for running and music — maybe even Taylor Swift.
The former UN ambassador’s political leanings will remain no secret, but she said she wanted to distance herself from the tribalism that dominates the media.
“My kids don’t watch the news because they think both sides are crazy,” she told The Associated Press. “And they’re not wrong. I think we need to cut out the craziness. I think we need to cut out the noise, and I think we need to break things down in a way that makes people feel empowered.”
Haley was the last opponent of former President Donald Trump to run for the GOP nomination this year. She supported Trump and backed him at the congressbut until the past two weeks, Trump had not asked her for help during the general election campaign.
But she said Tuesday that Trump’s team had been in touch with her over the past two weeks to discuss options for joint appearances, though none have been scheduled. Her radio show, however, “will not be about campaigning for any particular candidate,” she said.
She said she had been approached by a number of partisan news outlets to do some work for them, but she wasn’t interested. She didn’t name them. Her campaign, she said, taught her how tainted the media is and how predictable partisan outlets are.
“I think Americans are tired of that,” Haley said. “They don’t want to watch a news program and know exactly what candidate they’re pushing and what policy they’re pushing. They want to know the issues. They want to know exactly how it’s going to affect their family. I want to take all the politics out of it and really analyze it at the policy level.”
Haley said she is open to continuing the show after January, “if Americans like what they hear.”
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David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him on http://x.com/dbauder