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Nikki Haley: Trump’s authoritarian rhetoric ‘harmful and unnecessary’
Haley says DeSantis, Trump attacks are proof ‘we’re surging’
Dec. 21, 2023 7:05 pm, Updated: Dec. 21, 2023 8:10 pm
ANAMOSA — Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley continued her criticism of her former boss and current GOP front-runner, while taking former President Donald Trump’s side in a Colorado ruling blocking him from the state’s primary ballot.
Haley, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, stopped in Anamosa on Thursday for a town hall as she wrapped up a five-day campaign swing through Iowa with less than a month to go to the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses in the leadoff nominating state.
Speaking to a standing-room-only crowd of about 100 people, Haley blasted Trump for praising and quoting authoritarian leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
She also condemned Trump for remarks this fall criticizing Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and referring to Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group, as “very smart.”
Haley said Trump causes too much chaos to be successful in a second White House term. She said she believes Trump was “the right president at the right time” in 2016 but that the time is now right for a “new generational conservative leader that puts the negativity and the baggage behind.”
“We have a country to save. But in order to save them, we've got to acknowledge some hard truths,” she told the crowd. “Republicans have lost the last seven out of eight popular votes for president. That is nothing to be proud of. We should want to win the majority of Americans.”
Trump’s support among likely Iowa GOP caucusgoers tops 50 percent, according to two leading polls, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a distant second place, at 19 percent, following by Haley at 16 percent.
Haley, however, touted a Wall Street Journal poll earlier this month that showed her beating Biden head-to-head by 17 points and showed her in second in early state primaries.
“I don't think it would be good for President Trump to be president. I think most people know that,” the former South Carolina governor said, dismissing media narratives about Trump’s stranglehold on the Republican Party.
“I trust the American people. I don't trust what the media is saying is going to happen,” she said. “We just got one more fellow to catch up to and everybody knows whether you like him or not … four more years of chaos we won't survive.”
Immigration
Speaking to The Gazette afterward, Haley also chided Trump for telling a crowd of supporters in Waterloo earlier this week that immigrants coming to the U.S. illegally were "destroying the blood" of the country, echoing words used by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
“We need to secure the border,” Haley said. “We need to do that by defunding sanctuary cities, by getting more Border Patrol and ICE agents on the ground, by going back to Remain in Mexico, by doing catch-and-deport. … That kind of rhetoric doesn’t do anyone any good, and it’s harmful and it’s unnecessary.”
Attack ad
Haley also called out political action committees supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Trump for attacks accusing Haley of changing her stance on a gas tax while governor of South Carolina.
An ad paid for by Make America Great Again Inc., a super PAC supporting Trump’s campaign, makes a misleading claim that Haley as governor of South Carolina supported a gas-tax hike.
Haley opposed a stand-alone gas tax increase as governor. In 2015, she proposed raising the gas tax only if the state reduced income tax rates from 7 percent to 5 percent. The plan died in the state legislature and gas taxes were not increased during her time as governor.
“I’ll just say this, if these fellas have to lie about me to win, then they don’t deserve to win,” Haley said.
She called out DeSantis for co-sponsoring a bill in Congress to repeal the Renewable Fuel Standard critical to Iowa’s ethanol and biofuels industry, and argued Trump endorsed the idea of a 25 cent-per-gallon gas tax increase in 2018.
“I'm getting it from all angles. And that's OK. That means we're surging,” Haley said during the town hall.
Voters, not Colorado court, should decide on Trump
Haley said it is “completely wrong” to have judges deciding who can and cannot be on the presidential primary ballot.
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 decision Tuesday that Trump is disqualified from appearing on the state's primary ballot in 2024 because of the 14th Amendment, which bars certain officials from holding office again if they "have engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the United States.
“Look, I don't think President Trump should be president,” Haley responded to a question about the court’s decision during the town hall. “I think I should be president. I think that would be good for the country. Having said that, I will defeat him fair and square. No judges need to decide who can and can't be on the ballot. That is completely wrong.”
Voter thoughts
Payton Feldmann, of Cascade, will caucus for the first time this January. The 17-year-old, who will turn 18 before Election Day, said he’s undecided, but will “most likely” support Haley.
“Because she’s the most calm, cool and collected candidate that doesn’t bash people,” Feldmann said.
Tracey Groy, 58, of Dubuque, said, “I think Trump has so many supporters, but so many haters.”
Groy said she supported Trump in 2016 but plans to caucus for Haley.
“I think he did well in the four years (he served as president),” Groy said. “But he’s not the right person now,” echoing Haley of the “chaos and drama” that surrounds Trump.
“She’s a woman. She has experience with foreign policy. She takes a stand, and I think she takes the right stand,” Groy said, particularly on abortion.
Haley has said the U.S. Supreme Court was right to hand the issue back to the states, but has urged Republicans against pushing for a national ban with little chance of passing Congress.
Instead, she has spoken broadly about “sensitivity” and finding “national consensus” on banning late-term abortions, encouraging adoption, making contraception more accessible and not jailing women who receive an abortion.
“She just needs to keep doing what she’s doing,” Groy said. “Tell us what she’s going to do. Don’t bad-mouth the other candidates. Stick with her policies and why her policies would work for the country.”
‘Strong in Iowa’
Asked what success looks like for her in the Iowa caucuses, Haley told The Gazette: "Our goal is to be strong in Iowa. I want to be strong in New Hampshire and be strong in South Carolina.
“And so we’re not putting all of our eggs in one basket,” Haley said, a reference to DeSantis, who has pinned his hopes on posting a strong showing in Iowa to winnow the race down to him and Trump and upend the former president’s path to the GOP nomination.
“We’re putting all of our eggs in every state in every basket … and we want to show that we can be strong in all of them,” Haley said.
DeSantis has pledged he will win the Iowa caucuses, but his campaign has been plagued by infighting and dysfunction and remains far behind Trump in recent polling of the state’s likely caucusgoers.
He also faces a rising threat from Haley, who is ramping up her travel in Iowa and is now polling second behind Trump in the early-voting states of New Hampshire and her home state of South Carolina — and is battling DeSantis for second in Iowa.
The Haley campaign announced Thursday it hired Pat Garrett, a former adviser to Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, as it readies for a final push just 25 days out from the first-in-the-nation Iowa Republican caucuses on Jan. 15.
Garrett worked on Reynolds' 2018 and 2022 gubernatorial campaigns and served as her communications director in the governor’s office. He also advised Attorney General Brenna Bird in her 2022 campaign. He is to handle Iowa press inquiries for Haley leading up to the caucuses.
Reynolds has endorsed DeSantis, and Bird has endorsed Trump.
Haley said her campaign is bringing on additional staff in the final weeks to bolster the campaign’s organizing efforts and ground game.
“I’ve told my team, we’ve got to rally,” Haley said. “You know, we’re now 25 days out, we’ve got to make every day count.”
Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com
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