Another possibility is more harrowing: She has made a Faustian bargain to take the Oval Office. Her buddy Kushner, knowing that his complicity in the Khashoggi murder would doom him if it ever came out, asked her to step down—so that she might be brought back later on, this time as vice president, either for the 2020 campaign or sooner, if Pence was forced to resign. This way, if Trump was removed from office by the Senate, or if he resigned, Haley would assume the presidency, and would subsequently pardon everybody—thus fulfilling her end of the bargain. In this scenario, Nikki Haley is a one-woman sleeper cell, poised to wake and save the Trumps from ADX Florence. That would certainly explain the “hidden genius” remark.
It would work like this: Mike Pence would resign; Trump would nominate Haley as the new VP; as she is as “clean” a Republican as currently exists, the Senate and the House would likely approve her; Trump would resign; Haley would serve as Chief Executive for the remainder of Trump’s term, and run as the incumbent in 2020. In this scenario, she would wait until after the 2020 election to issue the Trump/Kushner pardons. If she lost, she’d do it on her way out the door; if she won, she wouldn’t have to face the electorate for four years.