Nikki Haley says she would pardon Donald Trump if elected president

So... She's admitting he broke the law?
- A pardon is essentially that. But only literally in the case of a conviction. You can issue blanket pardons which basically say "if you did something, you are pardoned". These do not have the direct acknowledgement of guilt but it's obviously heavily implied.
  
  These don't side-step prosecution though, just the sentence if found guilty, correct?

she would pardon him to unify America.
What she means is that she would do it to placate Trumps dangerous cult. There are a thousand things republicans could do if they really cared about "unity" but letting a racist piece of trash criminal like Trump off the hook isn't one of them.
- Yeah this action would do the opposite of uniting me with them lol

She's trying to position herself for Vice President candidate since it's becoming clear she can't win the primary.
- Trump already said she would never pick Nancy Pelosi to be his VP.
  
  I don't understand this comment in this context.
  Edit: thanks for explaining!

"Law and order". My ass.
- To conservatives the meaning of law and order is simple but not the same as it is for Liberals or Social Dems. For conservatives law exists to maintain the order of existing social hierarchies and to bind the people into those hierarchies. It binds women below men by stripping them of bodily autonomy, it binds black people below white people by stripping them of their vote then criminalizing protest, it goes on and on like this and becomes painfully obvious once we learn to see it for what it is.
  
  I get what you're saying. But I still take a little bit of issue with it. Conservatives don't have a special definition of law and order. They are using law and order as it was intended. I think liberals etc. Have a false impression of what it was ever supposed to be. Laws absolutely can be and often are unjust. The order almost undoubtedly always is corrupt. And the laws are specifically to preserve the order. Nothing else.
  What you want. What any good person should want. Is justice and peace. Things we aren't really allowed to have. All because of law and order. So I ask you, what good is law and order? Give it some consideration. I think you will come to a similar conclusion. Justice even if it's a threat to the order is necessary for meaningful peace. And laws don't bring justice.

If she wins and pardons Trump ... Trump, IMHO, would have her assassinated and try to take over the government. Again.
How can she not see that ?

I mean, if I were running I'd absolutely say in public that I'd pardon him if he were to drop out. Then I absolutely would not pardon him after I won.

She can't pardon the state crimes. That would take a governor.
- Not in Georgia. They have a pardon and parole board, and without getting into the weeds, there is no way to escape incarceration through a pardon in GA.
  The same board does have the power to commute sentences, though.

I hope her word is as good as his word was when it came to the Jan 6th rioters.
- You're assuming she will ever be president.

Any time they talk about not looking back but looking forward "“We’ve got to leave the negativity and the baggage behind", it means -I'll forgive them for what they did in hopes the people that come after me will forgive me in the same way.