Haley to Hilton Head area loyalists: Trump wrong on NATO, did she miff her aging audience here?

Rallying for South Carolina primary votes in Bluffton, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley spent much of her speech condemning former President Donald Trump’s recent comments about NATO and her husband’s military service.

In this respect, Haley knew her demographic. Beaufort County is home to Parris Island, a Marine Corps recruit training site, and has a large number of veterans. In others, she needed to read the room with a bit more insight: she frequently peppered in digs on Trump and President Joe Biden’s age to an audience that often celebrates longevity.

Her appeals are an attempt to sway voters away from Trump, the sole contender against Haley for the GOP primary Feb. 24. Although most of the 300 attendees at the Oyster Factory Park didn’t need swaying: they were Haley supporters. Early voting in South Carolina started Monday.

The most common distinguishing factor attendees cited was Haley’s temperance compared to Trump’s unpredictability. Almost a year after the former United Nations ambassador announced her candidacy, it’s a position Haley consistently takes: she says she is a more measured candidate than Trump and she would bring calm to the White House.

Trump is the sole contender against Haley for the GOP primary, and in the past week, he suggested he would stand by if Russia attacked NATO allies if those allies failed to spend enough money on defense. He said he would even encourage Russia to attack them. “Someone who wants to be president of the United States is siding with a thug,” Haley said, continuing the rhetoric she has used since Trump made his comments in Conway, South Carolina on Saturday.

Trump also went after Haley’s husband in Conway, questioning why he hasn’t been seen on the campaign trail. Michael Haley is with the South Carolina Army National Guard in Africa, deployed for a year.

“When you’re talking about one military member, you’re talking about all of them,” Haley said after the crowd booed in response to Trump’s comments.

Other parts of Haley’s remarks didn’t land as well to conservatives like Stephen Hoeckele, who agree with Haley that there should be a younger president than Trump, 77, or Biden, 81, but fears she may be offending some people with her rhetoric.

Hoeckele was one of many attendees in the crowd who said they wouldn’t vote for Trump if the general election was a rematch between him and Biden. Instead, they’d vote for an independent candidate or write Haley in.

Others, said that while they think Haley is the better candidate, they would vote for Trump again over Biden. Bluffton resident Bill Fletcher who previously backed Trump twice for president is one of those people.

“Some people are just going to oppose Trump because he comes off as a jerk,” he said. “We don’t have that with Nikki. She’s a fierce competitor, but she does it with grace and dignity.”

“I don’t think he brought very much dignity to the office,” he said. “I’d like to see dignity restored to the presidential office.”