Nikki Haley 'embodies the collapse' of the GOP: Republican strategist

Nikki Haley "embodies" the collapse of the modern Republican Party post-Trump, said former Mitt Romney presidential chief strategist Stuart Stevens to Business Insider, according to an article released on Sunday.

"Mitt Romney's former aide blasted Nikki Haley in a recent interview over the former South Carolina governor's decision to enter the 2024 GOP presidential primary, saying she 'doesn't have anything else to do' and arguing that she is actually seeking a vice presidential slot," reported John L. Dorman. "Stuart Stevens — who was Romney's chief strategist for his 2012 White House run and also a senior advisor for the anti-Trump group the Lincoln Project — questioned Haley's motivation for running for the presidency during a February 2 interview on MSNBC."

"Why is Nikki Haley running? I don't think she's really running because she thinks she's going to be president of the United States," said Stevens. "First of all, she doesn't have anything else to do. She's raised some money here in her PAC and she'll run. And I would say she's running to be vice president. I don't think she's going to go out there and attack Donald Trump."

"No one else really embodies sort of the collapse of the party as well as Nikki Haley," Stevens continued. "She was what the party was supposed to be. She went out and said that Donald Trump was everything that she taught her children not to be, and she went from that to saying that she wants to carry on the Trump legacy. It's just so sad. She's already broken before she gets in the race."

Two years ago, Haley told reporters she would not run against Trump if he ran for president again. Last month, however, she reversed this in an interview on Fox News, saying she believes she can be part of a new generation of leaders in contrast to the more elderly Trump and President Joe Biden.

Haley is reportedly expected to launch her campaign for president formally later this month — which would make her the only major Republican presidential candidate to do so other than Trump himself, who is busy trying to reboot a campaign launch that was panned by experts as phoned in.