Nikki Haley Calls Donald Trump 'Unhinged' And 'More Diminished' Than In 2016
Nikki Haley called former President Donald Trump “unhinged” and “more diminished than he was” in 2016.
In an interview with “Today” co-host Craig Melvin on Tuesday, Haley defended voting for Trump in 2016 and 2020, saying that she was proud to serve him and his administration as the U.N. ambassador from 2017 to 2018.
Now, as someone running for the Republican nomination for president in 2024 against Trump, Haley is taking hits at the former president.
“The problem now is he is not the same person he was in 2016,” she said of Trump. “He is unhinged; he is more diminished than he was.”
On Monday, she called out Trump after he questioned where Haley’s husband, Michael Haley, who is on a yearlong National Guard deployment, was during a rally Saturday.
“Where’s your husband?” Trump said on the campaign trail. “Oh, he’s away. He’s away. What happened to her husband? What happened to her husband? Where is he? He’s gone!”
Haley said Monday that Trump couldn’t be trusted to protect the troops, saying, “If you don’t have respect for our military and our veterans, God help us all if that’s the case.”
She echoed that sentiment Tuesday: “If you don’t know the value of our men and women in uniform, if you don’t know the sacrifice that they go through, why should I, as a military spouse, and all our military families trust you to know that you’re going to keep them out of harm’s way?”
Haley took another hit at Trump on Tuesday, when she hinted that he is trying to influence the election results by promoting his former campaign adviser and daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, for chairs at the Republican National Committee.
“Think about what’s happening right now,” Haley said at a campaign event in South Carolina. “Is that how you’re going to try and take an election?”
“If you don’t have respect for our military and our veterans, God help us all if that’s the case," Nikki Haley said of comments Donald Trump made about her husband.
Steven Cheung, Trump’s campaign spokesperson, told NBC News that her comment “reeks of desperation.”
“Nikki ‘Braindead Birdbrain’ Haley reeks of desperation as it’s clear she knows she has no shot, and is now auditioning for a cable news contract when her 15 minutes are over,” Cheung said. “But not before she can squeeze every last dollar out of her Democrat benefactors.”
Haley told Melvin during their interview that she is “not loyal to anyone,” including Trump.
“I don’t do that,” she said. “What I do is I call it out. If you’re right, you’re right. If you’re wrong, you’re wrong, and I’m going to call it out every time.”
Last week, Haley took a blow in Nevada’s primary when “none of these candidates” received more than 40,000 votes, while she only received 21,000. Trump wasn’t on the ballot. Afterward, Haley said Nevada was a “scam.”
Haley told Melvin that “there is no way” America will vote for a convicted criminal, alluding to the criminal cases Trump is facing, but during a debate, Haley raised her hand in agreement to support whoever the GOP nominee is for the 2024 election. She told Melvin that any Republican is better than President Joe Biden because “everyone sees how diminished Joe Biden is.”
“I know what the American people want,” Haley said. “They want to be heard, they’ve been through a lot, they don’t see enough money in their wallets. I’m doing this because we have to do something. We can’t just sit back and let it happen.”
