Former President Donald Trump couldn't wait for Nikki Haley to formally confirm her decision to pursue the White House in 2024.
On Wednesday, after seeing Haley — the Trump administration's former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations — tease a major announcement for Feb. 15, via social media, Trump went on the offensive by replaying an old Haley clip, saying back then she'd fully support her former boss, in the event of another presidential run.
Trump then complemented his Truth Social post by writing, "Nikki has to follow her heart, not her honor. She should definitely run!"
Later this month, Haley could become the first official GOP challenger to Trump, in terms of vying for next year's presidential nomination with the Republican National Committee.
However, Haley isn't the first presumed Republican candidate to get jabbed by Trump.
Last week, while doing campaign stops in New Hampshire and South Carolina (where Haley served as governor from 2011-17), Trump told reporters that it would be "a great act of disloyalty" if Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ran for the White House next year.
In the past, DeSantis has acknowledged that Trump played an integral role in helping him win the 2018 Florida gubernatorial election, by a razor-thin margin of 32,000-plus votes.
And now, on the heels of the 42-year-old DeSantis being reelected in Florida by 19 percentage points last November, he's widely viewed as a co-favorite with Trump to secure the RNC's presidential nomination in 2024.
Haley, though, might not possess the same crossover appeal with Trump supporters.
Shortly after the Jan. 6, 2021, unrest at the Capitol, Haley took a public shot at Trump, blaming the former commander-in-chief for the violence from that day.
Haley also suggested the Republican Party would be better off moving on from Trump.
"I think [Trump's] going to find himself further and further isolated," Haley told Politico late in January 2021. "I think he's lost any sort of political viability he was going to have ... He's not going to run for federal office again ... I don't think he's going to be in the picture. ... I don't think he can. He's fallen so far."
Haley continued in the Politico interview: "We need to acknowledge [Trump] let us down. He went down a path he 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."
It remains to be seen if other prominent Republicans — such as DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, or Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin — will publicly declare for the presidency in 2024.
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