“You have to see the hole in the ship. And if you don’t see the hole in the ship, we’re all going to go down.”
To use political jargon, Nikki Haley—who has lost primary contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and her home state of South Carolina—does not have a snow ball’s chance in hell of winning the GOP nomination for president. Still, she is apparently intent on not going down without a fight, and to that end, the former governor has a message for voters: Anyone who votes for Donald Trump has a death wish for America.
Her existence is to try to keep moderate conservative voters from flipping sides, and as insurance in case the supreme court sides against trump. The pardon is for the extreme side as a consolation prize if the SC rules against him.
When the supreme court rules in his favor and the risk of him going to jail is 0, she'll support him and hope that the last minute endorsement will put the presidency on the regressive side. She's not any better than him, nor was she ever. They're cut from the same cloth, they're just pandering to two sides of the same party.