Fresh off a conclusive win in Iowa, Donald Trump has set his sights on New Hampshire ― and rival Nikki Haley, who’s the only credible threat to Trump ahead of the state’s Jan. 23 primary.
The former President on Tuesday attacked Haley both on social media and at a rally, sharply changing his tone from the day before when he’d praised her as “very smart” and “very capable.”
“Anyone listening to Nikki ‘Nimrada’ Haley’s wacked out speech last night, would think that she won the Iowa Primary,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform, intentionally misspelling Haley’s given name at birth, “Nimarata.”
The racist dog whistle is a clear attempt to revive the claim that Haley changed her name to “Nikki” for political purposes, a claim The Associated Press found to be false.
“Nikki is my name on my birth certificate,” Haley explained in a tweet way back in 2018. “I married a Haley. I was born Nimarata Nikki Randhawa and married Michael Haley.”
Trump’s social media screed continued with a series of anti-Haley posts, including a manipulated photo depicting the former governor of South Carolina as Hillary Clinton.
“[Haley] couldn’t even beat a very flawed Ron DeSanctimonious, who’s out of money, and out of hope,” Trump added. “Nikki came in a distant THIRD! She said she would never run against me.”
The attacks continued at a rally in New Hampshire on Tuesday, where Trump criticized Haley’s performance as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration.
“I do want to talk about Nikki,” he said. “I worked with her for a long time. And she was OK. Not great.”
“She was not great. She’s not tough enough to deal with these people. I will tell you that she’s not tough enough.”
Haley hit back Monday after narrowly placing third in the Iowa caucuses, targeting both Trump and Biden for their age.
“Trump and Biden are both about 80 years old. Trump and Biden put our country trillions of dollars deeper in debt, and our kids will never forgive them,” she said. “Both lack a vision for our country’s future because both are consumed by the past — by investigations, by vendettas, by grievances. Americans deserve better.”
In a related development Wednesday, both CNN and ABC News canceled debates they’d planned between the two candidates after Haley said she wouldn’t participate if Trump didn’t also show up.