Republican Nikki Haley defies Trump and announces pre-candidacy for the White House in 2024

Republican politician Nikki Haley announced on Tuesday (14) that she will run in the primary for the party’s nomination for the race for the presidency of the United States for the elections of 2024.

The former governor of South Carolina is the first candidate to challenge former President Donald Trump, who announced his intention to return to the White House in November last year.

During the Trump administration, Haley served as US Ambassador to the United Nations (UN).

She is due to make an official speech launching her candidacy for the Republican Party primaries during a campaign event, this Wednesday (15), in the city of Charleston, South Carolina.

“The Washington establishment has failed us time and time again. It’s time for a new generation of leadership to rediscover fiscal responsibility, protect our border and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose,” Haley said in a video released Tuesday.

Trump, who announced his candidacy last year, recently appeared to bless his entry into the race, telling reporters that she had called to say she was considering launching a campaign and that he had said, “You should do this.”

Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, opened the video by talking about how she felt “different” growing up in Bamberg, South Carolina.

“The railroad tracks divided the city by race. I was the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. Neither black nor white. I was different. But my mother always said that her job is not to focus on the differences, but on the similarities. And my parents reminded me and my siblings every day how blessed we were to live in America,” said Haley.

Haley praised her record as twice-elected governor of South Carolina and her leadership in the state after nine people were fatally shot at a historically black church in Charleston in 2015. After the shooting, Haley called for the removal of the Confederate flag from the church’s grounds. State House – the seat of the state legislature.

She drew on her foreign policy experience in her announcement and referenced her time as a UN ambassador, saying she had “seen evil”.

“Some look to our past as evidence that America’s founding principles are bad. They say the promise of freedom is just made up. Some feel that our ideas are not just wrong, but racist and evil. Nothing could be further from the truth,” said Haley.

“I have seen evil. In China they commit genocide. In Iran, they murder their own people for defying the government. And when a woman tells of watching soldiers throw her baby into a fire, it puts things in perspective. Even on our worst day, we are blessed to live in America.”

“Some people look at America and see vulnerability,” Haley said.

“The socialist left sees an opportunity to rewrite history. China and Russia are on the march. They all think we can be bullied, kicked around. You should know something about me: I don’t tolerate bullies and when you fight back it hurts more if you’re in heels.”

Haley gave her clearest public indication that she planned to seek the Republican nomination during an interview in January.

“When you are looking at a presidential candidacy, you look at two things: you first look, is the current situation pressing for new leadership? The second question is, am I that person who could be the new leader?” she told Fox News.

“Yes, we need to go in a new direction,” Haley said. “And I can be that leader? Yes, I think I can be that leader.”

Haley has always tried to walk a fine line between siding with Trump and distancing herself enough to appeal to her more moderate critics.

She left the Trump administration in 2018 on good terms with the then president — a marked contrast to other former Trump employees who publicly fell out with their former boss.

* Posted by Léo Lopes, with information from Terence Burlij and Kate Sullivan, CNN