Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said Thursday that former President Donald Trump felt “threatened” and “insecure” which is why he pushed a “birther” conspiracy theory about her fitness to be president.
Haley appeared at a CNN town hall in New Hampshire on Thursday night as she stormed the Granite State in hopes of loosening Trump's grip on the Republican Party.
In recent weeks, Trump has highlighted a racist theory that says 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, Trump's former U.N. ambassador, responded by saying she is “the proud daughter of Bamberg, South Carolina, so I love my sweet city and I'm proud to say I'm from there.”
“The insult? “I know Trump well,” the former South Carolina governor continued. “This is what he does when he feels threatened.” This is what he does when he feels unsafe.”
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said Thursday that former President Donald Trump felt “threatened” and “insecure” which is why he pushed a “birther” conspiracy theory about her fitness to be president
Former President Donald Trump, seen at a campaign stop in New Hampshire earlier this week, spread a “birther” conspiracy theory about Haley on his Truth Social website and misspelled her first name, Nimarata, as “Nimrada” in a social media post “.
“I don’t take these things personally. “It doesn’t bother me,” Haley added. “So for me it's not going to waste energy. “I'm going to continue to focus on the things people want to talk about and not get involved in calling him back.”
In addition to spreading the “Birther” conspiracy theory on Truth Social, Trump called Haley by her first name, Nimarata, but misspelled it.
“Anyone who heard Nikki “Nimrada” Haley’s crazy speech last night would think she won the Iowa caucuses,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday. “She didn’t do that, and she couldn’t even beat a very flawed Ron DeSanctimonious, who is out of money and out of hope.”
Trump and his allies have also pursued Haley for Democratic support.
“Democrats are allowed to vote.” “They're going to vote for them 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 and said he was concerned that Democratic voters would vote for Haley in the Republican primary.
“First I want to tell you that we have been here for 11 months. We had over 75, 80 town halls answering every question and shaking everyone's hand. I'm the last one to leave. “I don’t ask people when they walk in the door whether they’re Republican, Democrat or independent,” she said.
Haley spoke about having support from conservative Don Bolduc, the failed 2022 GOP candidate for New Hampshire Senate who has been “a long-time pro-Trumper,” she said, adding that she also has the support of the moderate governor of New Hampshire. Chris Sununu.
CNN's Jake Tapper (right) asked presidential candidate Nikki Haley (left) Thursday night what a “win” in New Hampshire would look like and whether that would mean she could finish in second place. The nation's first primary election will take place in New Hampshire on Tuesday
“Independents have approached us,” Haley continued.
The Democrats, Haley explained, followed her because they were dissatisfied with President Joe Biden.
“I want everyone here to remember that Republicans have lost the last seven of eight popular votes for president. “That's not something to be proud of,” she said.
“If you want to win over the majority of Americans, you have to make sure that 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 do is tell people what I'm for.” “If independents, conservatives and moderate Republicans like that, I think it's great when conservative Democrats say I want to go back to the Republican Party because they left it “Then I want her back,” Haley continued.
The ex-ambassador said she would never target progressives.
“They will never be that for me,” she said. “But what I'm going to do is I want those younger voters, I want those moderates, I want those independents, I want them to come back to the Republican Party because that's how we win.”
Haley, who is still trailing Trump in most New Hampshire polls but within close proximity, also spelled out Tuesday night what a “victory” in the nation's first primary would look like.
“Look, I said from the beginning, we wanted to be strong in Iowa, we wanted to be stronger in New Hampshire, and we wanted to be even stronger in my sweet state of South Carolina,” she said.
Haley placed third in the Iowa caucuses, just behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose second place was 30 points behind front-runner Trump.
DeSantis was endorsed by Iowa's popular Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and traveled to all 99 counties, while Haley focused more on the second contest, the New Hampshire primary.
CNN's Jake Tapper pointed out that every Republican candidate who has won both Iowa and New Hampshire has subsequently secured the Republican nomination.
“So you named the past and all the hes.” “I'm talking about the she,” Haley said. “She’s going to keep going and finish this race.”
She said she wanted to do stronger than she did in Iowa – but wouldn't say whether that meant it had to be first place.
“We won’t know what strong looks like until those numbers come in,” Haley said.