But she called for Republicans to conduct a detailed autopsy of the party’s win — as it would in defeat — and said it must remind people that it is the party who will offer opportunities “to all citizens, regardless of their race, gender or where they are born and raised.”

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Haley met with Trump on Thursday at Trump Tower in Manhattan, stoking speculation she is under consideration for a Cabinet post in the new administration. The governor’s name has been floated for labor secretary, commerce secretary — even secretary of state.

On Friday, Haley spoke of her parents, Indian immigrants who left a comfortable life and came to the United States with $8 in their pockets in search of a better life.

“If we as Republicans are going to lead effectively and have staying power as a governing power, we must accept that Donald Trump’s election was not an affirmation of the way Republicans have conducted themselves,” she said. Voters, she said, rejected the political class, “and we have no one to blame but ourselves” because the party “moved toward big government rather than away from it . . . Republicans lost their way.”

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She also talked about the decision to take the Confederate flag down from the South Carolina statehouse grounds and the impact that the 2015 shooting deaths of nine people at a historically black Charleston church — which she said were “the act of a racist” — had on her and the state.

“What we saw in the extraordinary reaction to Charleston was people of all races coming together. We didn’t have riots, we had vigils. We didn’t have protests, we had hugs,” she said.

Haley noted that “many honorable people” support hanging the flag out of heritage. “They are not racists,” she said, noting they twice elected a black senator and Indian American governor.

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During the legislative debate over removing the flag, she said people listened to one another. “The flag came down and South Carolina has moved forward.”

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Haley did not specifically mention the appointment of Stephen K. Bannon, the former head of Breitbart News, to be Trump’s chief strategist, a move that was blasted by Jewish groups and political operatives on both sides of the aisle who said he is too close to the alt-right and white nationalism, or the appointment Friday of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to be attorney general. Sessions was denied a federal judgeship in 1986 after former colleagues testified before a Senate committee that he joked about the Ku Klux Klan, saying he thought they were “okay, until he learned that they smoked marijuana.”

Sen. Ted Cruz also spoke at the gathering and praised Sessions, saying the senator “is going to make an extraordinary attorney general of the United States.”

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“He is a committed and deeply principled conservative, and if those who serve in this administration have even a fraction of his integrity and his commitment to principle, we are going to see an administration that does remarkable things for the people of this country.”

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The Texas Republican, who met with Trump in New York on Tuesday, reversed himself when asked if he wants to serve on the Supreme Court. In May he said it was “not a desire of my heart” and had a different view today.

“What I will say is that history is long and can take unexpected paths,” he said.

“I think it is absolutely vital that that seat and every other seat that comes vacant on the court be filled by principled constitutionalists who will be faithful to the law,” he said.

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Cruz said he has spoken with Trump’s transition team and that he has “very much encouraged that team to use executive authority” not only to roll back President Obama’s executive orders but “to use it in legitimate ways, to reduce the burdens of government.”

Cruz urged the roomful of conservative lawyers to serve in a Trump administration — but also to keep their moral and ethical compass.