Nalin Haley is his mother’s defender-in-chief. Mock her at your own peril.

Nalin Haley, the 22-year-old son of GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, likes to fire back.

His cover photo on X, formerly Twitter, is a cartoon of a man standing in front of a crowd telling them: “Yes, You All Are Wrong.”

That's a position he's taken on social media and in front of voters – often in the service of his mother and to big laughs among her supporters.

On Wednesday, his ire was directed at Sunny Hostin, a co-host of ABC’s "The View." She claimed not to trust Haley’s “authenticity” when it comes to missing her husband, who is currently deployed oversees.

Hostin also mocked Haley for shedding a tear while talking about her husband in a speech earlier this week, saying she was doing it to boost approval ratings.

Since his mother began running for president, Nalin Haley has mainly restricted himself to brutal nicknames and zingers, but his response to Hostin was different. In a roughly 200-word post, he talked about the role his mother plays when the cameras are not rolling.

“Imagine getting an average of 4 hours of sleep every night and a rigorous schedule where you don't always have time to eat because you want to unite and bring out the best of people in our country, doing this for a year straight,” he wrote.

“All while your husband is away and without internet at times and you can't know if he's okay. All while taking care of your 90 year old elderly parents. All while being a Mom. All while being positive and doing it with a smile. With my mom, what you see is what you get.”

Nalin Haley also called Hostin “obsessed” with his mom, zeroing in after "The View" star appeared to criticize Nikki Haley's name. Hostin described the former governor as a “chameleon” who could “pass” by not embracing her Indian ethnicity, as though she’d abandoned her given name: Nimrata Nikki Randhawa.

“It’s an Indian name on her birth certificate and has been called that name since birth. Extremely ironic because the name Sunny isn't her real name,” he said.

Nalin Haley hasn't reserved his disapproval for TV hosts, however. In the weeks leading up to the South Carolina primary, he has become an increasingly vocal critic of his mom’s political adversaries in both his social media posts and his remarks on the campaign trail.

The Haley campaign did not respond to a request by USA TODAY to interview Nalin Haley or comment on his involvement with the campaign.

A senior at Villanova University in Pennsylvania majoring in political science, Haley seems to be quite the natural at disses. He called Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. “Senator Judas” after the lawmaker endorsed former President Donald Trump in the 2024 race for the White House. His support came after Scott was appointed to the U.S. Senate by Nikki Haley when she served as governor of the Palmetto State.

Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley’s one-time primary opponent, was also mercilessly mocked by Nalin Haley as “Pennywise the Clown” from the horror movie “It.”

And Nalin Haley hasn't spared his mother's most significant rival, Trump. When Nikki Haley appeared on "Saturday Night Live" earlier this year, she asked a character playing Trump if had won New York, in response to the constant drumbeat of people saying she should quit the race as she is likely to lose the primary fight in South Carolina.

The comedian portraying Trump admitted that he had won the Long Island area, and Nalin Haley posted the segment on X with the caption: "We do a little trolling, it’s called we do a little trolling." That's a reference to a speech Trump gave in 2020, in which he addressed mocking his own opponents.

Nevertheless, it's not clear Nikki Haley has embraced her son's jabs. At one of her recent campaign rallies, the former United Nations ambassador's son alluded to a talking to he received from his mom for his salty introductions.

“My mom had a talk with me, and I was like 'you what I feel awful.' And I would like to take this chance to apologize to Pennywise,” he said, tongue firmly planted in cheek as he continued making fun of Ramaswamy.

Last year, The Villanovan, his college paper, spoke to him about having a parent run for president.

He responded by saying if he and the rest of the Haley family didn’t want her to run for president, she wouldn’t have done it.

“She’s always going to be a mom first, before anything,” he said. “She wouldn’t have done it if just one of us said no…It took the four of us.”

But watch out if you cross his mother, as Hostin recently learned.

“The constant obsession and attacks clearly stems from insecurity,” Nalin Haley wrote on X. “Because she knows she's the most expendable person on the show and on her best day, she isn't even close to half the person my mom is.”

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nalin Haley is Nikki Haley's defender-in-chief. Mock her if you dare