Former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley ripped former President Donald Trump over his behavior in the final weeks of his administration.
Commenting on Trump’s final days in an interview with Politico published Friday, Haley, who left the Trump administration in October 2018, said she was “disgusted” by Trump’s verbal attacks against former Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6, the day a group of pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol building to disrupt Congress as it certified President Joe Biden’s election victory.
During a speech before a crowd of supporters on Jan. 6, Trump urged Pence to do “the right thing” by refusing to certify the election, which Pence had said he lacked the constitutional authority to do. After his speech and while the riot was ongoing, Trump ripped at Pence over Twitter minutes after learning that Pence was being evacuated from the Senate chamber because of the threat from rioters. Trump wrote, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.”
Haley, reacting to Trump’s Jan. 6 speech, told Politico:
She took a breath. “Fast forward, I’m watching the television the morning of the 6th and I see Don Junior get up there,” she said, reciting the president’s son’s calls to action against Republican leaders, closing her eyes as if reimagining the scene. “And then I hear the president get up there and go off on Pence. I literally was so triggered, I had to turn it off. I mean, Jon [Lerner] texted me something and I said, ‘I can’t. I can’t watch it. I can’t watch it,’ because I felt the same thing. Somebody is going to hear that, and bad things will happen.”
I asked Haley whether she has spoken to Trump since January 6. She shook her head.
“When I tell you I’m angry, it’s an understatement,” Haley hissed, leaning forward as she spoke. “Mike has been nothing but loyal to that man. He’s been nothing but a good friend of that man. … I am so disappointed in the fact that [despite] the loyalty and friendship he had with Mike Pence, that he would do that to him. Like, I’m disgusted by it.”
Haley later added that Trump let his supporters down with his behavior, as well as by spreading unsupported allegations that the election was fraudulent.
“We need to acknowledge he let us down,” Haley said. “He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again.”
She also told the outlet that she has not spoken to Trump since the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol, and takes issue with his remarks condemning former Vice President Mike Pence’s refusal to reject the Electoral College vote.
“When I tell you I’m angry, it’s an understatement,” she expressed. “I am so disappointed in the fact that [despite] the loyalty and friendship he had with Mike Pence, that he would do that to him. Like, I’m disgusted by it.”
The former ambassador, who many people are speculating may run for the White House in 2024, also added that Trump will never accept the results of the 2020 presidential election.
“There’s nothing that you’re ever going to do that’s going to make him feel like he legitimately lost the election,” she explained. “He’s got a big bully pulpit. He should be responsible with it.”
Haley also warned that many people still love the former president and will not stop supporting him just because he is out of office.
“I know how much people love Donald Trump,” she admitted. “I know it. I feel it. Whether it’s an RNC room or social media or talking to donors, I can tell you that the love they have for him is still very strong. That’s not going to just fall to the wayside. Nor do I think the Republican Party is going to go back to the way it was before Donald Trump. I don’t think it should.”
Haley also said that she didn’t believe Trump had a chance of winning in a 2024 election scenario.
“I don’t think he can,” she admitted. “He’s fallen so far.”
“I think his business is suffering at this point,” she added. “I think he’s lost any sort of political viability he was going to have. I think he’s lost his social media, which meant the world to him. I mean, I think he’s lost the things that really could have kept him moving.”
This is an excerpt from The Daily Wire.
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