COLUMBIA, S.C. — Former South Carolina governor and potential 2024 presidential candidate Nikki Haley says she believes former President Donald Trump won’t run for federal office again, according to an interview published by Politico on Friday.
Haley, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for Trump, said she believes Trump, who was impeached following the Jan. 6 insurrection, “won’t be in the picture” for the 2024 race.
“We need to acknowledge he let us down,” she said. “He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again.”
Trump was impeached for a second time one week after the Jan. 6 insurrection the U.S. Capitol where a mob of Trump supporters stormed the building and clashed with police in an effort to stop Congress from certifying the state’s electoral college votes and Joe Biden’s victory in the November election.
The riot followed a speech Trump gave at a Save America rally where he said “We’re going to fight like hell.”
House impeachment managers have said Trump’s speech incited the crowd. If convicted by the U.S. Senate, the chamber may hold a vote on whether to bar Trump from holding office again. Trump has not ruled out a run for president in 2024.
“I think he’s (Trump) going to find himself further and further isolated,” Haley said. “I think his business is suffering at this point. I think he’s lost any sort of political viability he was going to have. I think he’s lost his social media, which meant the world to him. I mean, I think he’s lost the things that really could have kept him moving.”
Haley, who has been making moves to set up a presidential run, including working with campaign consultants, has to navigate earning support from the Trump base, while trying to move on from the 45th president.
“I know how much people love Donald Trump. I know it. I feel it. Whether it’s an RNC room or social media or talking to donors, I can tell you that the love they have for him is still very strong. That’s not going to just fall to the wayside,” Haley told Politico.
“Nor do I think the Republican Party is going to go back to the way it was before Donald Trump,” Haley continued. “I don’t think it should. I think what we need to do is take the good that he built, leave the bad that he did, and get back to a place where we can be a good, valuable, effective party. But at the same time, it’s bigger than the party. I hope our country can come together and figure out how we pull this back.”
