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Nikki Haley's sudden and unexpected resignation from the administration of President Trump earned him membership in a unique club – the only former White House leader who leaves Trump's orbit as a political potential threat to the president.
As a sign of ramping up, the UN ambassador announced on Tuesday her resignation at the end of this year, while reassuring Trump that she did not have the chance. intention to challenge his reelection.
"No, I will not be a candidate for 2020," she said, sitting next to the president in the Oval Office. "I can promise you that what I'm going to do is campaign for this one. I look forward to supporting the President in the next election. "
The blunt statement highlights both the loyalty demanded by Trump and the political complications that Haley might pose to the president.
At 46, Haley has built her own political brand and has a long, potential career ahead of her. The former Governor of South Carolina combines the charm of the South with a sophisticated political trick: a migrant girl with solid management experience in her home country and the foreign policy she has enjoyed for two years. from the highest diplomats of Trump.
"She's a rising star and her king, so there's always inherent tension out there," said Mike Murphy, long-time Republican strategist and Trump critic. "Politically, any party star is a threat to Trump because, in his Stalinist way, there is only one sun god and it must be Trump."
US Ambassador Nikki Haley hands over his handwritten notes to President Trump as he chairs a meeting of the US Security Council on September 26 (Carlos Barria / Reuters)
For the moment, at least, Christine Matthews, an investigator who has worked with Republican candidates, said that Haley appeared to leave the Trump government as she pleased and with her personal and political good faith still intact.
"She has served very well and has only improved her reputation and I think she's probably the only person in Trump's administration to be able to say the same," Matthews said. .
She likened Haley to Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State and National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush, often cited as a possible candidate for the GOP vice-presidency. "This is one of the few people in the Republican world that conservatives and moderates really love and on which women and men can get along," Matthews said. "It's someone who is not part of the Republican stereotypical central cast. She is American Indian, she is young, she is both pragmatic and conservative, and I feel that she really has this image for her. "
Yet, for a rising star, it remains to determine where she will shine. In the hours following his surprise announcement, political agents proposed options ranging from a private sector concert to a dollar contract and a book contract. There were also rumors that Haley could seek the Senate seat occupied by Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.) – an idea quickly rejected by the confidants of Haley, Trump and Graham himself. "I have no desire to be a Cabinet member," joked Graham.
Rick Tyler, Republican strategist and former advisor to Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), Said that even though Haley's departure was highly choreographed: "Who can resign from the Oval Office? It's incredible. – For Haley, the challenge will be finding his best time, especially if Trump wants to be re-elected in 2020 as planned.
Nikki Haley, who was seen here during her tenure as governor of South Carolina in 2015, was named ambassador for the UK by the president-elect in November 2016. (Sean Rayford / Getty Images)
"If she shows up in 2024, she will have to find a way to keep her profile active for the next six years, and most politicians can not handle that," Tyler said.
The time of Haley's release, less than a month before the 2018 semesters, has hit many members of the president's circle, whether they are knowledgeable or suspicious.
On the one hand, it leaves the powers of foreign policy with the credibility that comes from navigating in an often chaotic White House and in anticipation of the potential political repercussions of the November elections or the inquiry of Robert Special Advocate. S. Mueller III in Russia.
"She is clever, which is good in politics, but you have to keep an eye open," said H. Boyd Brown, a former South Carolina Democratic lawmaker who has fought with Haley in the past. "She's coming for you if you're on her way."
The suddenness and secrecy surrounding his announcement Tuesday also prompted speculation about his motives. The expansive portfolio she enjoyed during Rex Tillerson's term as Secretary of State was diminished by the arrival of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton, who controlled the policy. foreign to the White House and presented themselves more than their predecessors.
Trump was also sometimes suspicious of her ambitions, frustrated when she made announcements on television or when she got a lot of media coverage. Haley had been skeptical of some of the president's policies and tactics, but had taken care, even privately, not to criticize him while marveling at his crowd and the number of his polls.
"Resignations in national politics are highly calculated maneuvers, it's not just:" Uh, I think I'll have chili for lunch, "said Murphy." It was so abrupt and timing so politically so weird that it reads as if it were preemptive … If this is the political master stroke, where is the airstrip? Where is the ooh and ahh?
Haley was already a rising star of the Republican Party when Trump started running for president in 2016. She did not hide her discomfort with her pugnacity and the racist aspects of her campaign, criticizing Trump's rhetoric and behavior, and finally endorse a competitor, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
But Trump easily wins the primary in Haley's home state. Therefore, her decision to make her the ambassador of the United States is considered an olive branch of the Republican establishment.
Haley – one of the few women in the Cabinet and one of the few minorities to hold leadership positions in the administration – quickly became the face of Trump's foreign policy, demonstrating political judgment and insight into her work. relations with the White House.
When speculation proliferated last month over the fact that Haley could have written an anonymous column in the New York Times, asserting a "resistance" within the Trump administration, Haley wrote a Washington Post column under the headline: "When I challenge the president, I do it directly. My anonymous colleague should have some too.
In April, Haley revealed in a television interview that the government would introduce new economic sanctions against Russia. Trump was unhappy that he was not ready to impose the new sanctions and the director of the National Economic Council, Larry Kudlow, said that Haley had missed the talk of "confusion".
The United States Ambassador replied the following day: "With all due respect, she said, I am not mistaken."
Haley's position on race issues also contrasted with Trump's. In August 2017, after Trump had suggested to both parties to blame the murderous gathering of white supremacy in Charlottesville, Haley had made it clear that she disapproved of the president's response, but had stopped publicly breaking up with him, claiming that she had communicated to him his views privately.
Notably fearing media leaks, Haley has long been micromanaging her own image and career and has kept an extraordinarily close council, discussing major career developments only with her family and a group of key advisers. During her 2010 governorship campaign, she kept her own calendar, took a look at her late-night e-mails and personally monitored comments on her Facebook page.
Once based in New York for her position in the United States, Haley sought to set herself apart from the gossip that often defined the West Wing, balancing her desire to be considered independent without breaching Trump.
Katon Dawson, former president of the Republican Party of South Carolina, said Haley's resignation to the whirlwind was probably deliberate.
"She's definitely not confused," Dawson said. "What you have seen is the vintage Nikki Haley."
Josh Dawsey and Anne Gearan contributed to this report.
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