Republican rival Haley targets Trump’s affinity for dictators during final sprint in New Hampshire
- The Republican candidate has accused her rival of being ‘obsessed’ with strongmen such as Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un
- She has also said he is too old to lead as the former president ramped up his verbal attacks and targeted Haley’s Indian heritage
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has accused Republican rival Donald Trump of being “obsessed” with dictators and too old to lead in a final stretch of campaigning in New Hampshire on Saturday, ahead of Tuesday’s presidential nominating contest.
The former United States president ramped up his verbal attacks and targeted Haley’s Indian heritage as the former ambassador to the United Nations sought to blunt Trump’s momentum following his victory last Monday in the Iowa caucuses.
New Hampshire boasts a more moderate brand of Republicanism with a semi-open primary that can attract more centrist voters, who may be turned off by Trump’s four criminal cases, authoritarian language and efforts to overturn his 2020 re-election loss.
Haley spoke to reporters after an event in Peterborough, New Hampshire, and emphasised Trump’s relationships with strongmen such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un.
Her campaign released a TV ad that will run in New Hampshire featuring the mother of Otto Warmbier, who died in 2017 after being held in North Korean custody. Haley accused Trump of writing “love letters” to Kim after Warmbier was recovered. “He is obsessed with these dictators,” she said.
Haley’s increasingly vocal criticism of Trump is a shift for a candidate who has shied away from sharp attacks on her former boss even as she has sought to sideline him, so far unsuccessfully, in the Republican race.
One of two remaining candidates challenging Trump for the Republican nomination, Haley needs a strong showing after placing third narrowly behind Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as Trump handily won in Iowa, the first stop in the state-by-state battle to determine the party’s choice to face President Joe Biden, a Democrat who is running for re-election.