Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley retaliated against Donald Trump on Thursday for pushing a ‘birther’ conspiracy theory regarding her ability to be president of the United States, emphasizing that the previous commander-in-chief feels “insecure” and “threatened”.
This comes as Trump recently cited a racist notion, claiming that Indian-American Haley was unqualified to be president because her Indian immigrant-parents were not yet US citizens.
Speaking during a CNN town hall in New Hampshire, the former UN ambassador stated that she is “the proud daughter of Bamberg, South Carolina, so I love my sweet town and I’m proud to say I’m from there.”
“The name calling? I know Trump well. That’s what he does when he feels threatened. That’s what he does when he feels insecure,” the former South Carolina governor said.
Nikki Haley dismisses Donald Trump’s name-calling
During the town hall, she was also questioned about how Trump misspelled her Indian name — ‘Nimarata Nikki Randhawa’ — while attacking his Republican presidential candidate on Truth Social.
She stated that Trump’s race-baiting rhetoric “doesn’t bother” her.
“I know that I am a threat. I know that’s why he’s doing that. So it’s not going to waste any energy from me. I’m going to continue to focus on the things that people want to talk about and not get into the name-calling back with him,” she asserted.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump misspelled Haley’s Indian name, which she was given at birth.
“Anyone listening to Nikki ‘Nimrada’ Haley’s wacked-out speech last night, would think that she won the Iowa Primary. She didn’t, and she couldn’t even beat a very flawed Ron DeSanctimonious, who’s out of money, and out of hope,” the Republican frontrunner wrote.
Previously, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who bowed out of the White race after finishing fourth in the Iowa primary, had targeted the former UN ambassador over her biological name.
Nikki Haley’s campaign released a video showing Trump praising her
As the contest for the White House among Republican candidates heats up, Haley’s campaign produced videos this week attacking Trump as well as ones featuring his supportive words about Haley during his term. Haley and her team have made it clearly clear that she is campaigning as if Trump is her only opponent, despite the fact that she was unable to defeat Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Iowa.