Haley criticizes Trump as “unhinged” and rejects calls to quit the race
Nikki Haley on Friday called Donald J. Trump “completely unhinged” after a failed attempt by one of his allies to get the Republican National Committee to declare him the party's presumptive nominee, escalating its attacks on his mental acuity.
Ms. Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, branded her former boss as increasingly hostile during a appearance on Fox News.
“Let's look at the last 48 hours,” Ms. Haley said, then attacked him for his combative rhetoric in his victory speech Tuesday in New Hampshire.
“He throws an absolute tantrum and talks about revenge,” she said. “Then he goes and says he's going to ban anyone from MAGA who donates to me.”
“I mean, he's completely out of control,” she said.
She also accused him of backing an RNC member's plan to use a resolution to force the party to say the nominating contest was effectively over. But the plan was withdrawn after Mr Trump rejected it in a post on his Truth Social website.
Ms. Haley, who lost to Mr. Trump, the Republican Party front-runner, by about 11 percentage points in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, has vowed to continue her campaign uphill.
Mr. Trump's campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung, used Mr. Trump's derogatory nickname for Ms. Haley, “birdbrain,” and said she is “trying to grasp at straws to mislead voters because she is nothing more than a Democrat with America's latest policy that will destroy the country.”
The tenor between Ms. Haley and Mr. Trump has grown increasingly sharp since the race narrowed to just the two of them. Ms. Haley first hit out at his age in the days leading up to the New Hampshire primary, suggesting “there is a decline.” Mr Trump seethed in his victory speech about her refusal to quit the race.
In the Fox interview, she pushed back against the narrative that her loss in New Hampshire — which was a two-candidate race — and her third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15 left her with an extremely narrow path to the top had left behind. lecture. Mr Trump has a commanding lead in the polls in South Carolina, her home state and the next big battle between them.
Ms. Haley also said she spoke with Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, who told Fox News on Tuesday after Trump's victory: “We have to unite around our final nominee, and that will be Donald Trump.”
“I let her know how disappointed I was,” Ms. Haley said.
Mr Trump has increased pressure on Ms Haley to quit the race, suggesting it is futile for her to advance to the next contests. And he has argued that a protracted primary battle would waste time and money on the broader goal of challenging President Biden in the November election.
“She will be ashamed and she will never be able to run for public office again,” Mr Cheung said on Friday.
For her part, Ms. Haley has long argued that she is better positioned to defeat Mr. Biden than her former boss.
Alyce McFadden And Jasmine Ulloa reporting contributed.