'This is the real world': Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy's 2024 feud erupts on the campaign trail

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy haven't always been rivals.

Haley last year on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, said she couldn't wait to read Ramaswamy's most recent book, sharing "Vivek sees the same America I do: a country worth our hard work and our love. We need to get that spirit back."

But since Ramaswamy and Haley launched their 2024 White House bids, the candidates have repeatedly clashed, bashing each other on issues like foreign policy and TikTok.

Ramaswamy, 38, and Haley, 51, are both looking to dethrone former President Donald Trump as the frontrunner for the Republican nomination. While Haley has carved a more moderate path on the campaign trail, Ramaswamy has appealed to the GOP's right flank, echoing calls closer to Trump's agenda.

“For Haley, it seems to be the simple fact that she doesn't like the man," said Ross Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University. “Her challenges to him onstage are especially acerbic."

Here's a closer look at the ongoing feud between the two candidates.

Vying for second place

Ramaswamy and Haley's jabs on the campaign trail are operating as a “primary within a primary” as the candidates compete to catch up to Trump, according to Rob Stutzman, a GOP analyst.

Ramaswamy has attempted to remove the sheen of Haley’s rise in the polls by criticizing her foreign policy stances, particularly on the wars in Israel and Ukraine, said Karthick Ramakrishnan, professor of public policy at the University of California, Riverside.

“Part of the strategy here when you try to dethrone another candidate is to go to some of their areas of strengths and try to convert it into weakness,” said Ramakrishnan. Haley served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Trump's administration and was once a close ally of the former president.

But the former governor has fought back against Ramaswamy.

During the third GOP primary debate in Miami, Ramaswamy compared Haley’s views to those of former Vice President Dick Cheney as the candidates discussed the Israel-Hamas war. He asked the audience, “Do you want a leader from a different generation, who’s going to put this country first? Or do you want Dick Cheney in three-inch heels?”

Haley later fired back with a correction: “They’re 5-inch heels and I don’t wear them unless I can run in them.”

That's not the only time their policy disagreements have erupted on stage. As the candidates discussed TikTok during the second GOP primary debate in California, Haley told Ramaswamy, “honestly, every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say.”

Ramaswamy invoked that attack during the third debate and criticized Haley’s daughter for using TikTok, saying, “you might want to take care of your family first.”

“That’s a violation of the unwritten rules of campaign civility, you know, bring people's children into matters,” Stutzman said.

However, Ramaswamy has pointed out that Haley has criticized Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden's son.

The feuding may be part of Haley's rise in the 2024 race, however. An Emerson College/WHDH New Hampshire poll found that Haley’s support has increased from 4% in August to 18% in November, trailing behind Trump in the Granite State. And a national polling average from Real Clear Politics shows her behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

While Ramaswamy did rise in some national polls after the first GOP debate, the trend hasn't lasted, with the entrepreneur often polling in single digits.

'Childish name games'

Another heated moment between Ramaswamy and Haley came as the businessman zeroed in on Haley's name in a New Hampshire town hall in September.

“An easy thing for me to do being a politician to follow this track is shorten my name, profess to be a Christian and then run,” Ramaswamy said. “Let’s be honest - it happens. Make Vivek ‘Vikki’ or whatever.”

He appeared to cast her as inauthentic or a phony, said Ross Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University. Haley converted to Christianity in the 1990s and has talked openly about her faith.

But in an August memo, Ramaswamy also wrote “Keep lying, Nimarata Randhawa,” misspelling her first name.

In response, Haley said she wouldn't get involved in “childish name games” with him, telling Fox News at the time "it's pretty pathetic."

"First of all, I was born with Nikki on my birth certificate, I was raised as Nikki, I married a Haley, and so that is what my name is, so he can say or misspell or do whatever he wants," she added.

"Nikki" is Haley's middle name, and she has long used it instead of her legal first name. Her family called her the name when she was a child.

Haley and Ramaswamy are the only two Indian American GOP presidential candidates, and both have often spoken to voters about their heritage.

Ramaswamy says he has had conversations with people about his religious background and what Hinduism means to him. And Haley has called herself the “proud daughter of Indian immigrants,” saying she's “more confident than ever” that she can make her vision a reality because “as a brown girl, growing up in a black-and-white world,” she "saw the promise of America unfold" before her.

An outsider vs. experience

Despite some common ground, Ramaswamy and Haley have also split on their political personas, with Haley casting herself as an experienced leader and Ramaswamy embodying a newcomer.

The businessman has aligned himself as a kind-of younger version of Trump while still reflecting the energy and attitudes of a younger generation frustrated with older politicians, Ramakrishnan said.

Ramaswamy previously told USA TODAY his goal is to take the America First Agenda further than the former president did, “be more effective at implementing it and also unite the country in the process.”

Meanwhile, Haley is coming into the campaign with the gravitas of having been a government official with foreign policy experience to contrast herself with the rest of the Republican field, Ramakrishnan explained.

Sara Sadhwani, an assistant professor of politics at Pomona College, said Haley “has shown on the debate stage that she is quite competent, that she's smart that she is a fighter, whereas Vivek Ramaswamy is the newcomer who's looking to make a splash.”

The dynamic was on display during the first GOP primary debate, when Haley told Ramaswamy he has “no foreign policy experience, and it shows.” And after the third GOP debate, she tweeted “I hammered China into supporting the harshest set of sanctions on North Korea ever. What has Vivek done to counter North Korea? Nothing.”

Meanwhile, Ramaswamy wrote on X in October that, “Rabidly shouting “FINISH THEM!!!” isn’t a coherent solution to a complex problem. This is the real world, not a video game. @NikkiHaley has foreign policy 'experience' & it shows."

All eyes will be on the two candidates as they prep for the fourth debate and the pivotal Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary.

“You can expect to see more intensive competition among them,” Ramakrishnan said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy's 2024 feud erupts on the campaign trail