Despite previously stating she would defer a White House run if former President Donald Trump decided to run again, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has now floated the likelihood that she may run for president in 2024. In the grand scheme, this isn’t a John Bolton-level fantasy since at least Haley’s putting up more than one percent of polling support.
Speaking during a recent interview, Haley was asked about her potential future political ambitions and stated that if she’s running, she’s running to win:
“Well, when you’re looking at a run for president, you look at two things. You first look at, ‘does the current situation push for new?’ The second question is, ‘am I that person that could be that new leader?’ You know, on the first question, you can look all across the board, domestic, foreign policy. You can look at, you know, inflation going up, economy shrinking, government getting bigger, you know, small business owners not being able to pay their rent. Big businesses getting these bailouts, all of these things warrant the fact that, yes, we need to go in a new direction,” Haley said.
“So do I think I could be that leader? Yes, But we are still working through things and we’ll figure it out. I’ve never lost a race. I said that then I still say that now. I’m not going to lose now,” she added.
It’s worth asking whether the dam might be breaking a bit. Haley is one who specifically said she would not consider running if Trump did, a nod to her former boss and the reality that trying to split the MAGA vote or compete with Trump for a sizable base of the party would only serve to divide the vote. After all, Haley’s way down the list in poll after poll, she doesn’t seriously stand a chance against Trump directly or even against other more popular choices like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
When asked about her previous statement regarding Trump, Haley seemed to make it clear that the previous logic no longer applied:
“It’s bigger than one person. And when you’re looking at the future of America, I think it’s time for new generational change. I don’t think you need to be 80 years old to go be a leader in D.C.,” Haley said. “I think we need a young generation to come in, step up, and really start fixing things.”
Referring back to her statement on Trump, Haley said that she “said that before we surrendered to Afghanistan, it was before we saw this high inflation and high crime, it was before we saw drugs infesting all of our states, it was before we saw our foreign policy in disarray, so a lot has changed.”
What Haley’s basically saying, between the lines, is that Trump has been weakened and the door might be opening for more challengers in 2024. Prior to the midterms, this line of thinking would only be left for the truly delusional Trump-haters like Liz Cheney, for example. That’s not to say Haley is bashing on Trump but she clearly feels as if there’s a least a chink in his armor worth exploiting.
The other possibility is that Haley is positioning herself as a viable option for Vice President. Her time spent at the United Nations was not coincidental. She was sent there, under the Trump administration, to gain foreign policy experience for her future political aspirations. Governors usually start with a disadvantage in this area compared to Senators, for example. In Haley’s case, having gained her conservative credentials from successfully governing South Carolina, the U.N. Ambassador role helped round out her resume a bit more.
As a presidential candidate, she looks good on paper but she lacks the popular support needed to win the primary.
It’s more likely she’s angling for the consolation prize as a VP choice and she’s going to spend the next year working that angle.
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