In the announcement that South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley will accept the role of American Ambassador to the United Nations under President Donald Trump, there is plenty to celebrate. The foremost of which is perhaps the contempt for the prevailing diplomatic culture in Turtle Bay inherent in the selection.

First among the reasons to be thankful this season is Trump’s decision to embrace a figure who not only opposed him in the primaries but who was viciously critical of the president-elect. The next United Nations ambassador, should she be confirmed, will be one who called her boss “everything a governor doesn’t want in a president.” Trump has not held a grudge, and that’s a truly encouraging sign. This also suggests that a Tuesday Wall Street Journal report indicating Haley was the leading candidate for this role was correct. That report revealed encouragingly that Mitt Romney and General James Mattis are leading candidates to head up the State Department and the Pentagon, respectively.