Trump is spreading birther conspiracies about me because he’s running scared, says Haley
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Nikki Haley has claimed Donald Trump is spreading racist “birther” conspiracies about her because he feels “threatened” and “insecure”.
Mr Trump, 77, has been ramping up his attacks on the former US ambassador, including by spreading false claims she is ineligible to become president because she was born to immigrant parents.
Ms Haley, 51, was born in South Carolina after her parents emigrated there from India, making her a US citizen.
The former president’s dog-whistle attacks continued this week when he referred to Ms Haley as “Nimrada” – a misspelling of her given first name, Nimarata, on social media. Ms Haley has always gone by Nikki, her middle name.
Asked about the attacks during a CNN town hall with Jake Tapper, Ms Haley said: “Well, first, I am the proud daughter of Bamberg, South Carolina, so I love my sweet town and I’m proud to say I’m from there. So, that’s the first question, we can throw that out the window”.
“The name calling? I know President Trump well. That’s what he does when he feels threatened, that’s what he does when he feels insecure,” she added.
“I don’t take these things personally. It doesn’t bother me,” she said. “I know that I am a threat. I know that’s why he’s doing that”.
Ms Haley said she was “not going to waste any energy” on responding to his attacks, adding: “I’m going to continue to focus on the things that people want to talk about and not get into the name-calling back with him.”
She later wrote on Twitter: “Just because Donald Trump says something, doesn’t mean it’s true. He knows I have a chance, or he wouldn’t be spending millions on ads attacking me.”
Mr Trump has long used baseless claims questioning eligibility to attack his political opponents.
The former president spent years falsely claiming Barack Obama was ineligible for the presidency, spreading lies that he was born in Kenya rather than Hawaii.
Ms Haley also used Thursday night’s town hall to double down on her claims that “America is not a racist country”.
Speaking about her own experience, she said: “We had plenty of racism that we had to deal with, but my parents never said we lived in a racist country, and I’m so thankful they didn’t.
“Because, for every brown and black child out there, if you tell them they live or were born in a racist country, you’re immediately telling them they don’t have a chance.”
Attacking Mr Trump and Joe Biden, she also told the crowd: “We don’t need to have our options be two 80-year-olds running for president”.
Despite narrowly losing to Ron DeSantis in the Iowa caucuses, the former South Carolina governor is treating Mr Trump as her only rival in the race for the Republican nomination.
A poll from American Research Group Inc. last week showed the two candidates were tied in New Hampshire, with 40 per cent of the vote each, ahead of Tuesday’s primary contest.
Ms Haley is drawing on support from establishment Republicans, moderates, suburbanites and independents, who are permitted to vote.
But Mr Trump has claimed Ms Haley “has no chance” of winning the 2024 Republican nomination and that his MAGA supporters won’t back her.
He told a New Hampshire town hall on Thursday that Ms Haley was “not going to make it” as she would not be “able to handle the onslaught” a Republican candidate would receive in the presidential election.
“MAGA is not going to be with her,” he said, referring to his slogan, Make America Great Again.
