With hopes of winning her home state in the Saturday GOP primary, Nikki Haley sharpened her tone toward opponent Donald Trump.
The former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina governor said at a North Augusta stop she outlasted every primary contender and had just one left to crush.
“China is on the march, ready to take us out any moment,” she said. “You’ve got Donald Trump siding with the thugs.”
The former president became “unhinged” when Haley won 43% of the vote in the New Hampshire primary, went on a rant and tried to subvert the process to get the nomination, she said.
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One of a dozen hopefuls who’s dropped out of the primaries, former GOP hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy was in Aiken Wednesday campaigning for Trump. An Emerson College poll showed 58% of South Carolina voters favored Trump and just 35% supported Haley.
Haley mentioned Trump’s criticism of her husband’s absence – he’s in Africa with the South Carolina National Guard – and reflected on her leadership as governor during multiple hurricanes, a 1,000-year flood, the shooting of Walter Scott and the murder of nine worshippers at Mother Emanuel church in Charleston.
“We didn’t burn. We didn’t have riots. We had vigils. We didn’t have protests. We had prayer. The tone at the top matters,” she said.
She also mentioned the ages of President Biden and Trump. Both would be in their 80s while in the White House.
“It’s not normal to go and mock military members,” Haley said. “It’s not normal to threaten the supporters of your opponent. It’s not normal to side with a dictator over countries that have been there for us… So why are relying on two candidates who are in their 80s to be the ones that save us? Because none of that is normal.”
Haley spent much less time criticizing Joe Biden, while some in the audience thought she could have been harder on Trump.
“She was easy on Trump,” Haley supporter Juan Vargis said.
Susan McCord is a staff writer with The Augusta Press. Reach her at susan@theaugustapress.com
