Nikki Haley wrestles Donald Trump with his candidacy for the US presidency

Nikki Haley, then US ambassador, addresses Venezuelan protesters at a protest outside the UN headquarters in September 2018.JIM WATSON (AFP)

The former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has announced on Tuesday that she will seek the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential elections, which directly confronts her former boss, Donald Trump, who also aspires to return to the White House.

"I'm Nikki Haley and I'm running for president," the policy announced in a video.

Haley, a former South Carolina governor who was ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, will outline her campaign plans in a speech in Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday.

“It is time for a new generation of leadership to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border, and strengthen our country, our pride, and our purpose,” Haley, 51, said in the video.

With a humorous touch, similar to Trump's and so much to the taste of the Republican electoral base, Haley recalls in the video his experience in foreign policy: his seat at the UN between 2017 and 2018, when he represented the isolationist line, contrary to multilateralism, that defined Trump's foreign policy.

“China and Russia are on the move.

They all believe that we can be intimidated by kicking.

You should know this about me: I can't stand bullies.

And when you kick them back, it hurts more if you're wearing heels,” she warned.

When she was chosen by Trump to represent the US in the organization, she lacked experience in international relations.

With the announcement, Haley becomes the first direct rival of Trump in a field, the Republican, which is expected to be populated in the coming weeks and months of candidates, at the head of all of them the current governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, He has not yet made his candidacy official.

DeSantis and Trump have maintained a discreet silence in recent months —since the former's overwhelming reelection in last November's elections—, without disqualifications or criticism.

According to a poll published this Tuesday, the former president leads the Republican race, with 43% support, followed by DeSantis, with 31%, and Haley, with only 4%.

The poll, by Ipsos for Reuters, was conducted between February 6 and 11.

With the announcement of Haley, the daughter of prosperous Indian immigrants, the race for the Republican nomination begins, discounting the announcement that the tycoon made last November.

Other names that sound are those of former Vice President Mike Pence;

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina;

New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson.

The expectation grows more if possible given the probable causes of the tycoon's ineligibility, in a hypothetical indictment for instigating the assault on the Capitol for his role in the attempted pot-raisers in Georgia in November 2020, when the investigation of the special prosecutor for the Trump

, Jack Smith, speed up.

The relationship of forces between them is changing (the candidate and Scott declined to attend a campaign event of the tycoon last month), and Haley herself, a chameleonic.

Highly critical of the campaign that brought her to the presidency in 2016, she has distanced herself from Trump several times, later toning down his rhetoric, saying that her former boss has an important role to play in the Republican Party.

Although she has criticized Republicans for baselessly casting doubt on the results of the 2020 presidential election, she campaigned for multiple candidates who supported Trump's false claims of voter fraud during the 2022 midterms.

Inside the party, however, Haley has earned a reputation as a solid conservative for her ability to address issues of gender and race more credibly than many of her co-religionists.

South Carolina is scheduled to host one of the first Republican primaries in 2024 and play a significant role in choosing the final candidate.

On Thursday, the day after Haley's campaign launch, hopeful Scott will kick off a "faith-focused listening tour of America" ​​in Charleston.

Next, he will visit Iowa, another key early voting state.

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