Nikki Haley will face uphill battle due to history with Donald Trump, Rove predicts
Fox Nation’s ‘Who is Nikki Haley? unpacks the former ambassador’s career and White House bid
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}After Nikki Haley announced her bid for 2024 presidential nominee, one former presidential adviser outlined how her perceived flip-flopping stances on former President Donald Trump could present a challenge in her campaign for the White House.
"She saw what happened on January 6th and condemned it. But she also understands that our party is a coalition and a significant part of our coalition are people who are attracted to voting for in 2016 and 2020, Donald Trump," former senior adviser to President George W. Bush Karl Rove said during the Fox Nation special.
"And so she doesn't want him to leave our party," Rove argued.
On "Who is Nikki Haley?" streaming now on Fox Nation, Rove discussed Haley's comments following the January 6th attack on the Capitol, and how she followed up her initial statements with a more restrained perspective. "America Reports" host John Roberts also weighed in on her Trump comments in the special.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"There are a number of things that could prevent her from becoming the GOP nominee. Maybe first and foremost among them is animosity that still lingers among ardent Trump supporters to what she said following January 6th," Roberts said during the special.
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In February 2021 following the January 6th riot, Haley criticized her former boss to Politico.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We need to acknowledge he let us down. He went down a path he shouldn't have, and we 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," the former U.N. ambassador said at the time.
Roberts noted that "since then, she's, to a large degree, moderated those comments."
"She has suggested that the Republican Party needs to have Donald Trump in it, though not necessarily as its leader or president. But I have heard from a lot of people on the Republican side who are very, very ardent Donald Trump supporters that they would never support Nikki Haley for the GOP nominee," he added.
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Haley's other controversial flip-flop regarding President Trump came about with her campaign announcement.
In April 2021, Haley said during a press conference she would not run if Donald Trump announced he was running again in 2024. She was forced to walk back those comments when she announced her own presidential campaign last month, but she did make the decision with the former president's blessing.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}While she may, indeed, struggle to rally support from staunch Trump supporters, as the special explored, there's no doubt Haley has entered the campaign with a noticeable ferocity and determination.
"She's going to jump in the race, and she's going to fight it out and see where it takes her. She's exceeded expectations in the past. Maybe she'll do it again," Roberts observed.
Feb. 2, 2017: The new U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, and members of the delegation listen during a Security Council meeting of the United Nations (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Haley was born Nimarata Nikki Randhawa in 1972. Her Sikh parents had immigrated to the U.S. from Punjab, India, and she grew up in the small town of Bamberg, South Carolina.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It was less than a decade out of desegregation in South Carolina when she was born," Roberts said during Fox Nation's special. "And so she grew up in a kind of a world that was used to Black and white, and she always wondered to herself, where does Brown fit into all of this? And that really did define a lot of her early life."
"I think it's the immigrant experience [that] created her future," Rove added. "She came here with parents who are looking for a new and better life and a country that they knew only distantly but they knew intimately. And that's the thing about the American Dream."
In 2004, Haley ran an unlikely campaign to fill the seat of the state's longest-serving representative, Larry Koon, who said he would be retiring. When he re-entered the race, she managed to pull out a victory becoming the state's first Indian-American to hold public office.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}After serving three terms in the South Carolina legislature, she decided to run for governor, again defying the odds in a still relatively all-boys club and becoming the first Indian-American governor of South Carolina.
As the special explores, since her time as governor, Nikki Haley has continued to rise within the conservative party. She was considered by Mitt Romney as a running mate on his 2012 presidential ticket - though ultimately choosing Paul Ryan - and served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}To learn more about 2024 presidential candidate, catch Fox Nation's "Who is Nikki Haley?" streaming now.
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