Former President Donald Trump welcomed his former subordinate to the 2024 campaign earlier today by calling her weak on immigration and disparaging the job she performed at the United Nations.
But wait, there’s more! According to Trump, who published a bullet-point list of the ways he intends to paint Haley as a weak RINO Republican that’s soft on immigration and is inspired by Hillary Clinton, she always wants to cut Social Security and Medicare!
Here’s the release via Twitter from Trump’s campaign website:
The Real Nikki Haley pic.twitter.com/BcW8doC3rt
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) February 15, 2023
Out of everything Trump mentions in the list, it is most likely the last item that’s irritating him more than anything:
Haley Flip Flops On 2024 Race
An Associated Press reporter asked if she would support the former President if he chooses to run again. She bluntly responded, “yes.” (Breitbart, 4/12/21)
HALEY: “I would not run if President Trump ran.” (Tweet, 4/12/21)
It’s true, Haley did say that, and she’s reneging on her word. On the other hand, what other leverage does she have, at this point, to fight her way into a VP slot other than proving she can fight her way into the presidential race and spar with Trump?
After all, if you relive the brutal Trump battle with Ted Cruz in 2016, the two made nice as soon as Cruz started complimenting Trump again.
Some of the list items are petty and have less to do with Haley and more to do with various circumstances. Some other items, however, might actually hurt in the long run.
Haley’s statement on the South Carolina transgender bathroom policy hasn’t aged well in view of the ongoing “parents’ rights” movement with regard to education up and down the ranks of the GOP. While Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is taking on woke battles left and right, Haley was governor in the years just before some of the major issues boiled up as political flashpoints. Her record up to that point was one more of moderation than of culture warrior.
The immigration stances could come back to haunt her as well which is why Trump clearly brought them up.
As for supporting Rep. Paul Ryan’s entitlement reforms, one can hardly fault Haley for yearning for some kind of fiscal discipline in Washington. Medicare and Social Security are on their way to insolvency without some kind of reform and this type of talk from Trump will make it harder for Republicans to reclaim the mantle of fiscal restraint.
On balance, Haley’s shortcomings are already known to most GOP voters. She’s not a fighter in the sense that DeSantis and Trump are. She’s more along the lines of a Glenn Youngkin-style Republican but without the recent victories over the authoritarianism coming from Democrats with regard to injecting left-wing equity garbage into public school curricula.
Perhaps one of the most obvious rebuttals to Trump’s criticism is that he’s the one who hired Haley to be his Ambassador to the U.N. in the first place. Did he make a bad choice picking a RINO lightweight that was afraid to stick it to the Russians over Otto Warmbier? He would be forced to admit he made a mistake in selecting her, something he won’t be prone to do.
In the end, however, Haley is not as much of a threat to Trump as DeSantis is. We probably won’t hear much more from Trump against Haley unless she directly engages in a tit-for-tat response.
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