Nikki Haley pleaded with Donald Trump on Tuesday that if he truly intends on winning the 2024 election, he should refrain from doing Trump-like things, like questioning Vice President Kamala Harris’s race, harping about crowd sizes, and insulting her intelligence.
On Fox News, Haley, who offered her “strong endorsement” of Trump in July, urged Republicans to “quit whining” that Harris, and not President Joe Biden, is the Democratic nominee. When asked by Special Report anchor Bret Baier whether the Trump campaign is “floundering,” Haley took it to task for making whole news cycles about topics that have nothing to do with policy.
“I want this campaign to win. But the campaign is not going to win talking about crowd sizes. It’s not going to win talking about what race Kamala Harris is. It’s not going to win talking about whether she is dumb,” Haley said. “It’s not. You can’t win on those things. The American people are smart. Treat them like they are smart.”
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In recent weeks, as Trump’s poll numbers have fallen and Harris’ campaign continues to see a surge in support, the Republican nominee has lashed out by reviving birtherist-type attacks on Harris’ ethnicity and making baseless claims that in photographs of her rallies, her supporters are generated by artificial intelligence. Some of Trump’s Truth Social posts also suggest that—weeks later—he is stewing over the fact that he is no longer running against Biden.
Haley reiterated that Trump’s campaign “needs to focus.”
“That’s the main thing,” she said. “Look, this is a winnable election. But you need to focus. Who is your target market? Your target is suburban women, independents and conservative Democrats. That’s your target market.”
What independent voters “like about Kamala is [that] she’s being hopeful,” Haley added.
“She’s talking about freedom. She’s talking about a way forward. They don’t want a former president talking about the past.”
