Charlie Sykes reviews Nikki Haley’s political judgement so far this year as she positions herself for a presidential run:

• She’s broken with Trump over his handling of the Capitol riot.
• She walked that back, declaring “Give the man a break!”
• She broke with Trump again, telling Tim Alberta that “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.”
• She walked that back, with an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, in which she gushed about Trump’s extraordinary successes and blamed the “liberal media” for wanting “to stoke a nonstop Republican civil war.”
• She tried to follow that up with a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago, which Trump declined.

Former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced her new political action committee on Wednesday in an email to her supporters amid speculation over a possible 2024 presidential bid, The Hill reports.

Gabriel Sherman: “According to sources, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump’s effort to draft Nikki Haley to replace Pence on the 2020 ticket has fizzled. During her book tour month, Haley stoked speculation that she was positioning herself to replace Pence when she torched Trump nemeses Rex Tillerson and John Kelly while lavishing praise on Trump… The thinking was that Haley appealed to suburban women, a crucial demographic Trump fares poorly with.”

“But Republicans close to the White House told me Haley had made the determination that joining the ticket, or even replacing Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State, would be a net negative for her 2024 ambitions.”

“Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is moving back to her native South Carolina, re-establishing a home base and also fueling speculation that a return to politics is next on her to-do list,” the AP reports.

“Haley has been living in New York City since resigning her post at the end of 2018 but has maintained high popularity in South Carolina.”

“Since leaving the United Nations last year, Nikki Haley’s moves have been closely watched for signs that the former South Carolina governor will run for the White House in 2024,” the Charleston Post & Courier reports.

“A new advocacy group, a new book and a series of high-profile speaking engagements were seen as steps toward a presidential bid.”

“Now Haley is heading to Iowa.”

Politico: “Haley is emerging as a fundraiser and surrogate for 2020 Republican Senate candidates, and next month will begin zigzagging across the country to campaign for a trio of GOP senators…. The former South Carolina governor’s summer itinerary includes a June 15 stop in Boone, Iowa, where Haley will help Sen. Joni Ernst launch her reelection campaign at Ernst’s annual Roast ’n Ride event, where Iowans are slated to grill over 2,000 pounds of pork.”

“Given its location in a key presidential caucus state, the event is sure to spark murmurs about Haley’s own political ambitions, including the prospect of a 2024 presidential bid.”

“Nikki Haley (R) is meticulously laying the foundation for a presidential bid in 2024, forming a nonprofit organization to sustain her political-rock-star profile while she builds a financial nest egg so her family can afford her political ambitions,” the Washington Examiner reports.

“Party insiders keeping tabs on Haley say the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations wouldn’t challenge her old boss, President Trump, in the 2020 primary. But the dynamic ex-South Carolina governor, just 47, is expected to mount a campaign four years later. With a coterie of advisers, Haley is choosing each step to maximize her notoriety and chart a course to the White House.”

Washington Post: “She insists she is not planning that far ahead, even as her range of activities suggest she is keeping her options open.”

“The organization’s initial list of subjects reflects Haley’s conservative worldview and political instincts, while its website features photographs of Haley traveling the world as U.N. ambassador and taking questions in the White House briefing room. The group’s policy positions mostly align with Trump’s, while also bearing echoes of traditional Republican views that have taken a back seat during the populist-flavored Trump era. She is tougher rhetorically on Russia than her former boss usually is and says she disagrees with Trump’s preference for punitive tariffs as a negotiating tactic in trade disputes.”

Joe Scarborough told his Morning Joe viewers that President Trump might not be the Republican nominee for president in 2020.

Said Scarborough: “If I were actually wargaming this, I would tell everybody thinking about running, plan your campaign against Donald Trump, but expect to be running against Nikki Haley. You have to think that way.”