Nikki Haley Announcing Her Resignation as U.N. Ambassador.
LEMON: From Ambassador to stand-up comedian. Last week, Nikki Haley was in the Oval Office announcing her resignation as America's Ambassador to the U.N. Well, tonight, she cracked jokes at the Al Smith Dinner, an annual charity event right here in New York City, featuring prominent politicians.</s>HALEY: Everyone in Washington called me with advice about this speech. They all said the same thing. Do not, under any circumstances, make any jokes about the President, so good night, everybody.</s>LEMON: Back with me, Frank Bruni and Kirsten Powers. So Kirsten, for the most part, Haley avoided taking digs at the President, making digs at the President. But she did take a joke that took the Democrats on as well as her boss. Watch this.</s>LEMON: Now, she was funny. Trump wasn't funny when he went. I don't remember if Ryan was funny. I don't remember. What are your thoughts, Kirsten?</s>POWERS: Yeah. I mean she was funny. I don't think, you know, she's not a standup comedienne. I think, you know, as you noted earlier, she looked stunning. And you are allowed to say that, Don, you know? You don't have to worry about that. I think she's obviously very charismatic. You can tell me anytime. Yeah, and I think she's -- yeah. She was fine.</s>LEMON: Yeah, fine, all right. Do you think there's an expiration date on jokes about Warren's DNA test? Do you think we're going to hear Republicans cracking jokes about that for a while now?</s>BRUNI: I don't think it'll go on for months. But it has a couple more weeks in it. What I thought was so interesting about that, though, was what you said. She took swipes both at Republicans and Democrats.</s>LEMON: Yeah.</s>BRUNI: I think that's very considered. Nikki Haley has shown herself to be one of the smoothest, deftest political operators that I have seen in a long time. And she's been performing one of the most fascinating balancing acts in politics over the last two years. And I think that act continued. It was a comedy act. It was also a balancing act.</s>LEMON: Yeah. I want to play another joke that Haley sounds like she's going to joke about the President but then it takes another turn. Watch this.</s>HALEY: The President got really mad at Bob Woodward's book, really mad. The book compared him to a fifth grader. A lot of Democrats seized on that. Until they realized they got beat by a fifth grader.</s>LEMON: So Kirsten, she walks right up to the line, right, but veers away. Is she worried about a headline that might annoy the President?</s>POWERS: Yeah, yeah, no. I mean that was funny. And I think she has been somebody who has been able to navigate working with Donald Trump. And, you know, a lot of people that sort of -- everything he touches dies doesn't really apply to her, right? She's been able to get in and out of this administration untarnished. And I would even say, you know, in a better position than she was probably when she went in, at least with experience that she didn't have, which has not been the case for a lot of people who have come out of this administration scathed.</s>LEMON: Yeah. You mentioned that you think she's one of the deftest political players that you have seen. What do you think about her decision to avoid taking on the President directly, though, Frank?</s>BRUNI: It continues as tradition. She does not want to be welded to his side, but she realized that the last thing in the world she wants is to be attacked on Twitter by Donald Trump, to have him going after her, because when Donald Trump decides to after you, he goes after you all guns blazing. She's deft. She left this celebration after two years because she realized she needed these two years to punch the foreign policy hole in her ticket, right, to have a better resume for whatever comes next. But every month you stay in the Donald Trump administration is another month when something terrible can happen. It's another month when your reputation can end up in tatters. So I think she saw two year mark coming in. She said I have done enough time to pad my resume, and I can get out before anything horrible happens to me.</s>LEMON: Yeah. I just kept thinking it is bad joke. Her new name is most deft, most deft, most deft.</s>BRUNI: I am putting a T on the end of it.</s>LEMON: Not Mos Def, but most deft. So I've got to ask you. So after, you know all these jokes about -- that Ambassador Haley made, she made a serious point how Americans need to come together. Here it is.</s>HALEY: In the last two years, I have seen true evil. We have some serious political differences here at home. But our opponents are not evil. They're just our opponents. We are blessed with a political system that allows us to resolve our differences peacefully. In the end, we must recognize that we are all Americans. And we are stronger and healthier when we are united.</s>LEMON: Well, what do you think, because I am wondering if that advice is for the President, Kirsten, because he's the one who has called Democrats evil?</s>POWERS: Yeah. I don't know. This struck me as sort of the typical political pablum. OK, so maybe there are very few people who are actually pure evil. But there's actually quite a bit of evils that are happening in this country right now, in my opinion. I mean I think racism is evil. I think misogyny is evil. And I am seeing a lot of that in this country. And I don't think there is anything wrong with saying that. And to sort of say, oh, because we can resolve all our differences without violence, that somehow our differences aren't serious and profound and go well beyond politics, I think it's more about morality and what you think is decent. I just don't think it's an accurate -- I think it might have been accurate at another time in our history. I don't think it's accurate right now.</s>LEMON: Last word, Frank.</s>BRUNI: I think Nikki Haley was talking about the tone of so much of our political debate. And in that sense, I appreciate what she said. I think it was meant for the President. But he would have to hear really subtly to hear that. That's not the way he hears.</s>LEMON: Thank you, both. I appreciate your time. Fareed Zakaria is going to join me next.