There is still a long way to go before the US presidential elections in 2024. The election campaign within the parties has already started. An old friend is waiting for Donald Trump.
Haley is the first prominent Republican woman to challenge Trump in the Conservative Party’s presidential race. But how do you know them at all?
Haley on Trump: “We shouldn’t have followed him”
Haley comes from the city of Bamberg in the state of South Carolina. There she was the first woman to be governor from 2011 to 2017, before then-US President Donald Trump put her in the international limelight: Although she had supported Trump’s competitor Marco Rubio in the 2016 presidential election campaign, he offered her the post of UN ambassador of the USA. Haley assumed the Senate overwhelmingly elected her. Her term ended in October 2018.
Haley had previously been one of many opponents of the then US President: the American dream of her immigrant Indian parents was being called into question by Trump, who created walls against immigrants. Before the presidential election, she said of him that he “does everything I taught my children not to do in kindergarten.”
As ambassador, Haley was the first Indian-American in the presidential cabinet, but her change of heart towards Trump did not spare her the reputation of what Americans call a “chameleon”. Nevertheless, she earned respect across party lines. Following her time at the UN, Haley served briefly as a member of the board of directors of aircraft manufacturer Boeing.
After announcing her candidacy, Trump initially reacted to the fact that Haley had ruled out running against him in April 2021. “I told her to follow her heart and do what she wants,” said the ex-president, who entered the presidential race last November. “I wish her luck!”
Warm words that hardly hide the fact that the relationship between the two is once again very tense. Haley distanced herself from the right-wing populist after radical Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. In an interview, she said: “He took a path that he shouldn’t have taken, we shouldn’t have followed him and we shouldn’t have listened to him.”
As a result, Haley avoided taking an overly open stance against Trump. Like many other Republicans, she probably shied away from harsh criticism of Trump so as not to make herself the target of the ex-president’s attacks and antagonize the conservative base.
Haley as an absolute outsider
Haley, married with two children, has long been considered a possible presidential candidate – but whether she has a real chance is more than questionable. In surveys of potential Republican candidates, however, she is far behind Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence with single-digit percentages.
Neither DeSantis nor Pence have yet announced a presidential bid. Republicans will choose their presidential nominee for 2024 in primary elections next year.
