2024-02-20T20:51:19+00:00
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/ Nikki Haley, Donald Trump’s only competitor in the race to win the Republican Party’s nomination in the upcoming presidential elections, directed her sharpest criticism of the Republican billionaire on Tuesday, describing him as “increasingly unhinged.”
Haley, who is trailing Trump in the polls, refuses to withdraw from the primary, which angers Trump’s campaign, which seeks to unite Republican ranks in the face of several lawsuits filed against him in the courts.
Days before a primary election on Saturday in her stronghold of South Carolina, where she is expected to suffer a crushing defeat at the hands of the former president, Haley said Trump was “getting more and more nasty and hostile by the day.”
“He is so distracted, everything revolves around him,” she told supporters. “He is so obsessed with the demons of his past that he cannot focus on the future that Americans deserve.”
Haley served as the US ambassador to the United Nations during Trump’s presidency, and has vowed to continue the campaign despite Republican warnings that doing so would damage the party’s chances of defeating Democratic President Joe Biden in November.
“I don’t fear Trump’s retaliation,” Haley said, “and I refuse to give in.”
Trump’s statements late last week sparked condemnation, saying he would encourage Russia to attack NATO members that were not meeting their financial obligations to the alliance.
“It’s not normal to spend $50 million in campaign funds on personal lawsuits,” Haley said, referring to Trump’s legal troubles.
“It is not normal to threaten people who support your opponent, and it is not normal to call on Russia to invade NATO countries,” she added.
Haley trails Trump by more than 50 percentage points in the Republican primary, but she insists she has a better chance of beating Biden in the national election.