Leading GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump has vanquished all but one of his Republican rivals in the primary season, the exit of overhyped Florida Governor Ron DeSantis from the race leaving only Nikki Haley standing between Trump and the nomination. And even with Haley storming New Hampshire before Tuesday’s primary there, it is already easy to imagine the future headline where Haley drops out and endorses Trump, as DeSantis just did, because until about a week ago her campaign basically already ran as a Trump endorsement.
Haley, like DeSantis, largely failed throughout her candidacy to criticize Trump, instead promising voters she’d be just like him, only younger. Trump, for his part, skipped the GOP primary debates and kept himself out of the direct line of fire, since stepping in was unnecessary.
When hostilities finally began between the two in earnest after Iowa’s caucus, Haley stabbed at Trump’s fiscal irresponsibility — adding $8 trillion to the debt — while Trump used his favorite tactic: demeaning his opponent.
Telling supporters that he knows Haley “very well” (he appointed her as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.), Trump ripped into the former South Carolina Governor, calling her “a woman that is not capable of doing this job.” Why? “She’s not smart enough,” Trump said, nor “tough enough.” Here’s one Trump assessment of Haley:
“She’s not tough enough, she’s not smart enough, and she wasn’t respected enough. She cannot do this job. She’s not going to be able to deal with President Xi. She’s not going to be able do deal with Putin and Kim Jong Un, and all of the people, the very fine people, that you have to deal with.”
Haley has finally begun to swing back at Trump, as in the interview below, but many critics say she’s singing her song long after the guests have left the party.
If Donald Trump is going to lie about me, I’m going to tell the truth about him: he’s terrified of our momentum. Here’s the truth about some of his biggest lies. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/PK8BJm1wtP
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) January 22, 2024
As news broke that Haley had perhaps closed the gap to within single digit percentage points in New Hampshire, Trump again aimed his poison darts at Haley’s origins. Trump had previously (and falsely) suggested that Haley, as the daughter of immigrants, is prevented by the Constitution from running for president — a criticism that reminded observers of the birtherism Trump leveled at former President Barack Obama, and which catapulted Trump into the political limelight on the far right.
Trump took his Haley innuendo a step further this weekend, questioning not just where her parents were from but her entire origin story, not so subtly suggesting that Haley may not be from the U.S. originally despite her U.S. birth. Trump gave Haley a nickname, “Nimbra,” a purposefully disrespectful mangling of her birth name, which was Nimarata. Asked about it in the interview below, Trump very specifically questions Haley’s origins, saying “wherever she may come from.”
Trump explains why he called Haley ‘Nimbra’: “It’s just a little takeoff on her name – wherever she may come from. I look at her name. I look at a lot of people. I do a lot of names for people. Some people say I’m very good at that.” pic.twitter.com/R0v6vf4otA
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 22, 2024
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