2024年还有一年，但影子总统竞选似乎正在共和党内进行。
前南卡罗莱纳州州长、驻联合国大使妮基·黑利和佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯在过去几周一直是共和党人及其工作人员攻击和批评的对象。
正在考虑参加总统竞选的前国务卿迈克·蓬佩奥抛出了令人震惊的消息引起争议在他的书中，他声称哈利与当时的特朗普总统顾问贾里德·库什纳和伊万卡·特朗普合作，让她取代迈克·彭斯成为唐纳德·特朗普总统的副总统。
海莉也在决定她是否应该竞选总统，她在福克斯新闻频道的一次采访中否认了这一说法，她说，“当你不得不走出去，为了卖书而散布谎言和流言蜚语，这真的很可悲。”
据接近贾里德·库什纳和伊万卡·特朗普的消息人士透露，海莉最初安排会议是为了告诉川普她要辞去驻联合国大使。她不相信凯丽或蓬佩奥会泄密。
“最终，他们发现了这次会面，并怀疑她试图成为副总统，但这是假的。她只想说她要走了。贾里德和伊万卡从未合谋试图让她成为副总统。
蓬佩奥坚持自己的说法，并在哥伦比亚广播公司(CBS)上表示，特朗普当时的幕僚长约翰·凯利(John Kelly)和白宫高级顾问凯莉安妮·康威(Kellyanne Conway)都告诉他这是“真实的”。他还建议，一旦事情变得困难，哈利就离开特朗普政府。
“他们对我们的攻击相当猛烈。所以，每个人都在说，滚出去，退出，竞选——海利大使没有决定留下，她决定离开。”
蓬佩奥和哈利之间的这场混战正值川普本周末前往南卡罗来纳州，为他的第三次总统竞选揭开该州的领导团队。
南卡罗来纳州和新罕布什尔州是特朗普宣布他将访问的第一批初选州。
关注南卡罗来纳州，特朗普和其他潜在的2024年共和党候选人面临着赢得该州的艰苦斗争，因为两名可能的总统候选人哈利和参议员蒂姆·斯科特都来自那里，在该州仍然非常受欢迎。
鉴于哈利和斯科特与南卡罗来纳州的关系，如果他们寻求提名，他们将更有可能赢得南卡罗来纳州。
南卡罗来纳州共和党前主席卡顿·道森(Katon Dawson)说，“除非你超过了目标，否则你不会受到攻击。”。“蓬佩奥肯定没有超过目标，在南卡罗莱纳州完全不为人知。所以，对他来说，攻击妮基·黑利也许是一个好的政治策略……”
甚至一些当选官员也表示，在南卡罗来纳州超越哈利和斯科特可能很难。
在一次华盛顿邮报直播采访中，共和党众议员南希·梅斯(R-S.C .)表示，她最有可能支持哈利或斯科特，而不是特朗普。她补充说，她将等到共和党的领域设置之前，她支持一名候选人。
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与此同时，在佛罗里达州，许多人认为是另一位潜在的2024年候选人的州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯(Ron DeSantis)在过去几周受到了共和党人的公开批评。
南达科他州州长克里斯蒂·诺姆的发言人伊恩·弗瑞，批评德桑蒂斯因为他没有致力于反堕胎运动，并质疑他是否相信14周大的婴儿有正确的生活。在南达科他州，堕胎是非法的，除非母亲有生命危险。
当被问到哥伦比亚广播公司新闻如果她同意弗瑞的评论，另一位潜在的2024年候选人诺姆说，她一直自豪地反对堕胎。
诺姆说:“你知道，很多人为了抓住头条新闻，发表广泛的声明，说了很多话。“我更喜欢采取行动，做实际保护生命的事情。”
虽然德桑蒂斯在2022年签署了为期15周的堕胎禁令，但他在12月的新闻发布会上表示，他对进一步限制堕胎持开放态度，在新闻发布会上，他被问及他是否会支持一项涉及六周左右堕胎禁令的心跳法案。
“我愿意签署伟大的生命立法。这就是我一直说我会做的，”德桑蒂斯回应道。
“德桑蒂斯背上有一个大目标，”美国广播公司新闻撰稿人、前特朗普政府官员莎拉·伊斯古尔说。
Isgur认为，2024年的选举可能会类似于2008年前总统巴拉克·奥巴马和前国务卿希拉里·克林顿之间的选举。
“这些人中有一半试图帮助特朗普，因为，当然，会有一个空缺的副总统职位，而德桑蒂斯现在是特朗普的最大威胁。”
新罕布什尔州共和党州长克里斯·苏努努在本月早些时候接受福克斯新闻频道采访时也批评了佛罗里达州州长。
在采访中，苏努努同意德桑蒂斯的观点，即“我们需要推进沃克政策”，这是德桑蒂斯在担任州长期间积极致力于解决的问题。但是苏努努补充说，他不同意追求公司和私营企业.
苏努努在采访中说:“我来自一个自由生存或死亡的国家，私营企业可以也应该像私营企业一样行事，而不用担心受到可能不同意的人的惩罚。”
去年，在华特·迪士尼公司公开反对该州的《家长教育权利法案》后，德桑蒂斯拿该公司做了一个例子，该法案被称为“不要说同性恋”法案。
佛罗里达州议会召开了一次特别会议，通过了一项法案，取消了华特·迪士尼世界的特别区，允许该公司自治。
尽管如此，佛罗里达州的选民似乎对州长的行动反应良好，在11月的改选中以近20个百分点的优势获胜。
Early 2024 presidential contenders narrow in on Haley and DeSantis
2024 is a year away, but the shadow presidential campaign seems to be underway in the Republican party.
Former South Carolina governor and Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have been the subject of attacks and criticism from their fellow Republicans and their staff over the past few weeks.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is mulling over a presidential run, dropped bombshells and stirred controversy in his book where he alleged that Haley worked with then-Trump presidential advisors Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump to have her replace Mike Pence as vice president under President Donald Trump.
Haley, who is also deciding if she should run for president, denied the claims in a Fox News interview, saying, "it's really sad when you're having to go out there and put lies and gossip to sell a book."
According to a source close to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, Haley originally had the meeting set up to tell Trump that she was resigning as Ambassador to the U.N. and that she did not trust Kelly or Pompeo not to leak it.
"Ultimately, they found out about the meeting and suspected she was trying to become Vice President but that was false. She just wanted to say she was leaving. Jared and Ivanka never conspired to try and make her Vice President."
Pompeo is standing by his claims and said on CBS that he was told it "was true" by both Trump's then-chief of staff, John Kelly, and Kellyanne Conway, a senior White House adviser. He also suggested that Haley left the Trump administration once things became difficult.
"They were coming at all of us pretty hard. And so, everyone was saying get out, quit, run - Ambassador Haley didn't decide to stay, she decided to leave."
This scuffle between Pompeo and Haley comes as Trump heads to South Carolina this weekend to unveil his state's leadership team for his third presidential run.
South Carolina and New Hampshire were the first early primary states where Trump announced he would be visiting.
Focusing on South Carolina, Trump and other potential 2024 Republican candidates face an uphill battle to win the state since two possible presidential candidates, Haley and Sen. Tim Scott, are from there and remain very popular in the state.
Haley and Scott would be in a better position to win South Carolina, given their ties to the state, if they do seek the nomination.
"You don't get attacked unless you are over the target," said Katon Dawson, the former chair of the South Carolina Republican Party. "And Pompeo certainly is not over the target and is completely unknown in South Carolina. So maybe it's good politics for him to attack Nikki Haley…"
Even some elected officials are signaling that it could be tough to overtake Haley and Scott in South Carolina.
During a Washington Post Live interview, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) said she could most likely lend her support to Haley or Scott over Trump. She added that she’s going to wait until the Republican field is set before lending her support to a candidate.
Meanwhile, down in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis, who many view as another potential 2024 candidate, has received public criticism over the past few weeks from those in the GOP.
One of the most public displays of an attack on the governor was when Ian Fury, spokesman for South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, criticized DeSantis for not being as committed to the pro-life movement and questioning whether he believed that 14-week-old babies have a right life. In South Dakota, abortion is illegal, with the exception of the mother's life being at risk.
When asked on CBS News if she agreed with Fury's comment, Noem, another potential 2024 candidate, said that she has always been proudly pro-life.
“You know, a lot of people talk and say a lot of things to grab headlines and make broad statements,” said Noem. “I prefer to take action and to do things that actually protect life.”
And although DeSantis signed a 15-week abortion ban in 2022, he has signaled that he's open to further restricting access to abortion during a December press conference where he was asked if he would support a heartbeat bill which refers to abortion bans around the six weeks.
"I'm willing to sign great life legislation. That's what I've always said I would do," DeSantis responded.
"DeSantis has a big target on his back," said Sarah Isgur, an ABC News contributor and former Trump administration official.
Isgur believes the 2024 election could look similar to the 2008 election between former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"Half of these folks are trying to help Trump because, of course, there'd be an open vice-presidential spot and DeSantis is the biggest threat to Trump right now."
New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu has also criticized the Florida governor during a Fox News interview earlier this month.
In the interview, Sununu agreed with DeSantis that "we need to push back on woke policy," an issue that DeSantis has actively worked on during his time as governor. But Sununu added that he disagrees with going after corporations and private businesses.
"I come from the Live Free or Die state and private businesses can and should act like private businesses without the fear of being punished by people that might disagree with," Sununu said in the interview.
Last year, DeSantis made an example of the Walt Disney Corporation after its public opposition to the state's Parental Rights in Education bill, that was dubbed as the "Don't Say Gay" bill.
A special session was called where the Florida state legislature passed a bill that eliminated Walt Disney World's special district, which allowed the company to self-govern itself.
Still, it seems that voters in Florida have responded well to the governors' actions, having won reelection in November by nearly 20 percentage points.
