Former President Donald Trump again butchered rival Nikki Haley’s first name, Nimarata, as he attacked her in a Truth Social post Friday morning.
The night before, Haley headlined a CNN town hall and was asked by the network’s Jake Tapper what she thought about Trump pushing a racist ‘birther’ conspiracy theory about her eligibility to serve as president – and purposely using her Indian first name to characterize her as some kind of other.
Haley said Trump felt ‘threatened’ and ‘insecure.’
On Friday morning, Trump unloaded on Haley and New Hampshire’s Gov. Chris Sununu, who endorsed the former U.N. ambassador over the ex-president.
‘Governor Chris Sununu, the now failing Governor of New Hampshire, where I am beating his endorsed candidate, Nimbra, by big numbers, and DeSanctimonious by even bigger numbers, should spend more time keeping Democrats from voting in the Republican Primary – How ridiculous is that?’ Trump fumed. ‘Anyway, it doesn’t matter, because Nimbra doesn’t have what it takes.’
Former President Donald Trump (left) again butchered rival Nikki Haley’s (right) first name, Nimarata, as he attacked her in a Truth Social post Friday morning. At a CNN town hall Thursday night she said his name calling showed he was ‘threatened’ and ‘insecure’
On Friday morning, Trump unloaded on Haley and New Hampshire’s Gov. Chris Sununu, who endorsed the former U.N. ambassador over the ex-president. He repeatedly called Haley ‘Nimbra,’ which isn’t even her first name
He called Haley ‘weak on China, Russia, Borders, and Crime,’ but added that she ‘never saw a war she didn’t like.’
‘I hope Sununu’s endorsement of Nimbra has more strength than Kim Reynolds Iowa endorsement of DeSanctus! How did that work out?’ Trump also trolled. ‘MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’
Iowa’s Gov. Reynolds had backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, but he took a distant second place in Monday’s Iowa caucuses, losing to Trump by 30 points.
Haley came in a close third place to DeSantis in Iowa after not putting much effort into winning the state, with her primary focus to do well in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary.
That means Trump has sharpened his attacks on his former U.N. ambassador.
In recent weeks, Trump has highlighted a racist theory suggesting Haley, who was born in the United States, was ineligible to be commander-in-chief because her Indian immigrant parents were not yet U.S. citizens.
Haley responded at Thursday night’s CNN town hall by saying 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,’ the former South Carolina governor continued. ‘That’s what he does when he feels threatened. That’s what he does when he feels insecure.’
‘I don’t take these things personally. It doesn’t bother me,’ Haley added. ‘So it’s not going to waste any energy for me. I’m going to continue to focus on the things that people want to talk about and not get into name calling back with him.’
In addition to pushing on Truth Social the ‘birther’ conspiracy theory, Trump started referring to Haley by her first name, Nimarata, but spelling it wrong.
‘Anyone listening to Nikki “Nimrada” Haley’s wacked out speech last night, would think that she won the Iowa Primary,’ Trump posted to Truth Social on Tuesday. ‘She didn’t, and she couldn’t even beat a very flawed Ron DeSanctimonious, who’s out of money, and out of hope.’
Trump and his allies have also gone after Haley for attracting some Democratic support.
‘Democrats are allowed to vote. They’re going to vote for her because they don’t want to run against me, it’s a very simple system,’ Trump claimed Thursday night during an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
A New Hampshire voter asked Haley about that Tuesday night, explaining that it gave him pause that Democratic voters were crossing over to vote for Haley in the Republican primary.
‘First of all, I will tell you we’ve been here for 11 months. We’ve had over 75, 80 town halls answering every question, shaking every hand. I’m the last person to leave. I don’t ask people when they come in the door if they’re Republican, Democrat or independent,’ she said.
Haley talked about how she has support from conservative Don Bolduc, the failed GOP 2022 New Hampshire Senate candidate, who’s been a ‘pro-Trumper for a long time,’ she said, while adding she also has the support of moderate New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu.
CNN’s Jake Tapper (right) asked presidential candidate Nikki Haley (left) Thursday night what a ‘win’ would look like in New Hampshire and if it meant she could come in second place. New Hampshire first-in-the-nation primary takes place Tuesday
Independents have come our way, Haley continued.
Democrats, Haley explained, have come her way because they’re displeased with President Joe Biden.
‘What I want everybody here to remember is Republicans have lost the last seven out of eight popular votes for president. That is nothing to be proud of,’ she said.
‘If you’re going to win the majority of Americans, you have to make sure, as a leader you don’t decide who’s good and who’s bad, who’s right and who’s wrong,’ she said.
‘What I’m doing is telling people what I’m for. If independents and conservatives and moderate Republicans like that, I love that, if conservative Democrats are saying I want to come back home to the Republican Party because they left it, I want them back,’ Haley continued.
The ex-ambassador said she would never target progressives.
‘They’re never going to be for me,’ she said. ‘But what I will do is I want the younger voter, I want those moderates, I want those independents, I want them to come back to the Republican Party because this is how we win.’
Haley, who is still behind Trump in most New Hampshire polls, but within spitting distance, also couched what a ‘win’ would look like Tuesday night in the first-in-the-nation primary.
‘Look, I have said from the beginning we wanted to be strong in Iowa, we wanted to be stronger in New Hampshire and we want to get even stronger in my sweet state of South Carolina,’ she said.
Haley came in third place in the Iowa caucuses, right behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose second place was 30 points behind frontrunner Trump.
DeSantis was endorsed by Iowa’s popular GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds and traveled to all 99 counties, while Haley spent more time focused on the second contest, New Hampshire’s primary.
CNN’s Jake Tapper pointed out that every Republican candidate who’s won both Iowa and New Hampshire has gone on to clinch the GOP nomination.
‘So you named the past and all of the hes. I’m talking about the she,’ Haley said. ‘She’s going to go forward and finish this race.’
She said she wanted to perform stronger than she did in Iowa – but wouldn’t say if that meant it had to be first place.
‘We’re not going to know what strong looks like until those numbers come in,’ Haley said.