As the GOP primary heads from Iowa to New Hampshire, Republican candidate Nikki Haley, in her bid to stop the Donald Trump juggernaut, hit out at the former President, questioning his mental capacity to serve as President. Haley's volley came as Trump appeared to repeatedly confuse her with former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Trump, in his speech the night before, had mistakenly asserted that Haley was in charge of Capitol security on January 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the building seeking to stop the certification of his loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump first said that Haley turned down security offered by his administration on Jan. 6 and then again mentioned Haley.
“By the way, they never report the crowd on January 6. You know, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley … did you know they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, everything, deleted and destroyed all of it? All of it, because of lots of things, like Nikki Haley is in charge of security, we offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, national guards, whatever they want. They turned it down.”
To this, Haley said: "They're saying he got confused, that he was talking about something else, he's talking about Nancy Pelosi."
"He mentioned me multiple times in that scenario. The concern I have is I'm not saying anything derogatory but when you're dealing with the pressures of the presidency, we can't have someone else that we question whether they're mentally fit to do this, Haley said.
Trump did not wait to hit back. Adding that he took a cognitive test and aced it, the former President said: "I'll let you know when I go bad. I really think I'll be able to tell you," he added. "I feel my mind is stronger now than it was 25 years ago. Is that possible?"
For Haley, New Hampshire is one of the best chances to notch a victory over Trump, considering that poll figures show her winning almost 34% of the vote in the state, 13 points behind Trump. This, however, is quite a surge considering how she ended up third in Iowa, behind Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Republican voters in Hampshire too seemed to be considering someone other than Trump.
Trump, on the other hand, has been ramping up personal attacks against Haley, comparing her to Hilary Clinton. He is also taking New Hampshire by storm conducting mammoth rallies in venues his rivals could only dream of filling. "We need big margins," Trump said at a rally in Manchester, "because we have to send real unity as a message."
"Nikki Haley is using radical Democrat money to run the radical Democratic campaign operation she’s running," Trump said, referencing Haley's support base which includes some centrist and anti-Trump political groups and donors. "What the hell kind of Republican candidate is that?"
