Donald Trump ridicules Republican rival Nikki Haley for delivering speech to half empty hall at CPAC
Former President Donald Trump mocked Republican rival Nikki Haley on Saturday, pointing out that her speech to the MAGA faithful was delivered to a half-empty room at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
“Congratulations Nikki Haley for drawing such a big crowd at CPAC,” he posted to TruthSocial with a photo of empty rows. “Like I told her, ‘Nikki, follow your heart!'”
CPAC regulars say the event lacked energy this year, with some key figures staying away in an ‘off year’ election cycle.
Haley was one of the contenders at risk of appearing in front of a hostile audience, even taking the opportunity to reiterate her call for an over-75 candidate for a mental aptitude test.
Trump turns 76.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, on the other hand, stayed away from an audience of Trump loyalists.
On the second full day of CPAC on Friday, there were many empty seats
Nikki Haley said in a speech Friday that the Democratic Party is now “socialist” and that “waking up” is more dangerous than any public health crisis
That earned Haley kudos from some Trump lieutenants.
“Yes, @CPAC, like the GOP in general, is dominated by Donald Trump,” said Taylor Budowich, who runs the MAGA Inc super PAC. “It’s not easy to show up and be in that shadow, but you can’t participate if you don’t show up.
“Props to those like Nikki, Pompeo, Vivek etc who had the courage to show up and compete.”
He tweeted it out with a video of Haley leaving her speech as Trump supporters chanted.
In her speech, Haley said in a speech Friday that the Democratic Party was now “socialist” and that “waking up” is more dangerous than any public health crisis.
The Democratic Party is now a socialist party. At least Bernie Sanders and AOC are honest about it,” they told a crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). “Socialism is weakening our country at the worst possible time.”
And after a coronavirus pandemic that killed 1.13 million Americans, Haley said, “Wake up is without a doubt a virus more dangerous than any pandemic.”
The former United Nations ambassador and governor of South Carolina called China the “strongest and most disciplined enemy we have ever faced.”
“I can’t believe what Joe Biden is letting China get away with,” she said. “Never in my life did I think Americans would look to the sky and see a Chinese spy balloon watching us.”
“Chinese companies now own more than 380,000 acres of American land, some of which is right next to our military bases,” Haley continued. ‘What are we doing? We must never let an enemy buy land in our country.’
The Republican presidential nominee alleged that President Biden is having US troops take “gender pronoun classes” instead of combat training.
“A strong army does not start wars. A strong army prevents wars,” she said. “I will bring the same power to the White House that I brought to the United Nations.”
Haley praised her work at the UN, compiling a list of countries and cross-checking how often they voted with the US and how much aid the US gave them.
“They stab us in the back and then turn around with their hands outstretched, wanting our money,” she said. “To this day we give foreign aid to Pakistan, Iraq, the Palestinians and even communist Cuba and China.”
“We have to stop trying to buy friends. All we do is pay off enemies. When I’m president, we’ll stop giving money to countries that hate America!’
“Never in my life did I think Americans would look to the sky and see a Chinese spy balloon looking at us,” Haley said.
After calling for mental competence tests and term limits, Haley slammed both Biden and congressional Republicans for increasing the national debt after Republicans cut back earmarks last year.
“(Biden) has put us on track to add $20 trillion more over the next 10 years. And by the way, some Republicans helped with that,” she said. ‘We need to stop the ear tags and cap projects once and for all!’
Haley entered the race for president in mid-February, but is currently well behind former President Trump – who has already made a bid – and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has not yet done so.
According to an Emerson College poll released this week, Trump leads the pack in a hypothetical matchup with 55 percent of GOP primary/caucus voters and DeSantis trailing him at 25 percent. Vice President Mike Pence is behind at 8 percent and Haley behind him at 5 percent.