As time runs out before next week’s Republican primary in South Carolina, Nikki Haley is looking for a way to undermine Donald J. Trump and his leadership, including trying to reinterpret an old line of attack: he has long been disrespectful be towards veterans.
In her effort to close the more than 30-point gap between herself and the former president, Ms. Haley has used his disparaging comments about her husband’s deployment to the National Guard to revive criticism that Mr. Trump has routinely disparaged military troops and veterans, a voting bloc that Republicans have long counted on to support.
At recent campaign stops in the state, Ms. Haley resurfaced a story about Mr. Trump in which he reportedly told his former chief of staff John F. Kelly that Americans killed in war were “losers” and “idiots” during a visit to the At Arlington National Cemetery, he reportedly said of soldiers who died overseas, “I don’t understand, what was in it for them?”
Ms. Haley’s campaign has focused more on the issue as recent polls show her performing strongly in her home state, and even among her supporters there are widespread doubts that she will have a strong showing. But by echoing Mr. Trump’s past comments about military personnel, Ms. Haley could indirectly help the Biden campaign by reinforcing an argument against Mr. Trump that it made in the 2020 election — and one that is likely to resurface in the 2024 general election becomes .
While Mr. Trump won veteran households by about 12 points in 2020, his support among them fell by about 14 points compared to the 2016 election. The decline could be attributed in part to Mr. Kelly’s alleged comments and his strained relationships with his former defense secretaries, James Mattis and Mark T. Esper.
But Mr. Trump’s critical comments about veterans were also part of his successful 2016 campaign, in which he disparaged the military service of his critics, such as Sen. John McCain of Arizona, and lashed out at the family of a Muslim Army captain killed in Iraq.
Mr. Biden repeatedly attacked Mr. Trump’s stance on military service during the 2020 presidential campaign, particularly after The Atlantic first published Mr. Kelly’s allegations, which he confirmed late last year. After the report was distributed, Mr. Biden gave a fiery speech in which he called Mr. Trump’s comments “disgusting” and said they showed he was “unfit” to serve as commander in chief.
Mr Biden, whose son Beau served in Iraq with the Delaware National Guard, has already called Mr Trump disrespectful to veterans during his 2024 campaign. In South Carolina last month, he revisited Mr. Trump’s comments, saying passionately: “How dare he speak like that about my son and everything we’ve lost?” The only loser I see , is Donald Trump.”
Mr. Trump has sought to defuse Ms. Haley’s criticism by pointing out that she had previously defended him against Mr. Biden’s allegations. On Wednesday in North Charleston, he read a social media post from 2020, nearly two years after she left his administration, in which Ms. Haley said she had “seen the tremendous love and respect” that Mr. Trump had for the military met.
“I love our military — you have a great military here — I love our vets,” Mr. Trump told the enthusiastic crowd in South Carolina. “I took care of our vets like no president has ever done.” He accused Ms. Haley of subversion and later bragged about his record as a veteran during his time in office — an area in which he often overstates his success.
Ms. Haley’s criticism of Mr. Trump took shape after he suggested on Saturday that her husband had accepted a deployment to Africa to get away from her. Although he did not directly target Mr. Haley’s military service, he appeared to minimize its importance by asking whether Mr. Haley had chosen the deployment simply to leave it. (Maj. Michael Haley, a National Guardsman, is serving a voluntary, year-long deployment to Djibouti.)
She claimed that Mr. Trump had mocked her husband and that when “you make fun of one person in the military, you are making fun of everyone,” and told the audience that Mr. Trump was “not qualified” to be president because she “untrusted”. he should protect the troops. Her campaign released a fundraising message urging supporters to donate to a leader who understands military sacrifice, a digital ad that showed Mr. Trump’s so-called “anti-veteran record,” and an open letter from more than 40 veterans condemning his statements.
Initially one of several unrelated attacks on Mr. Trump by her campaign, the focus on veterans soon became a focal point. Speaking at a “GOP Presidential Sweet Tea Stop” in Summerville, S.C., on Tuesday, Ms. Haley seamlessly integrated the criticism into her usual short speech.
On Friday in San Antonio, home of a military base where Ms. Haley said her husband trained, she suggested that Mr. Trump’s comments were part of a “pattern” of disrespect.
“He was never near a military uniform – he never had to lie on the ground,” she said. “The closest he ever came to danger from a golf ball was when he was in a golf cart.”
But the strategy could prove ineffective despite South Carolina’s military bases and sizable veteran population. Chip Felkel, a longtime Republican strategist and Trump critic in South Carolina, said Ms. Haley missed an opportunity to attack Mr. Trump early in the campaign.
“While I think his derogatory comments or attempt at innuendo are probably not the smartest thing he could have done, I’m not sure it will affect the outcome,” Mr. Felkel said.
That was true for several voters who attended a Trump rally in North Charleston on Wednesday and said they didn’t pay much attention to Ms. Haley’s criticism. “He has tremendous respect for the troops,” said Liz Knudsen, a Charleston-area resident, noting Mr. Trump’s legacy as president.
Tyler Jones, a Democratic strategist in South Carolina, argued that Ms. Haley helped the Biden campaign by mounting “the most effective attacks on Donald Trump,” albeit in the Republican space.
Ms. Haley, who has sought to expand her coalition in part by appealing to more moderate and left-leaning voters, has drawn crowds in larger cities and along the coast but has struggled with enthusiasm in rural areas, where she will have to stick with Mr. Haley . Trump’s support.
Eric Oser, a retired Marine captain from Charleston, South Carolina, who is supporting Ms. Haley, said he hoped voters would send a message to Mr. Trump that his comments were unacceptable, but admitted he did not expect the same from Ms. Haley have win.
“If you’re a Democrat, this is your chance,” Mr. Oser said, urging her to support Ms. Haley. “Take a hit on Trump. Does this mean she will be president? No. But it will send a message.”
In a sign of Ms. Haley’s persistent challenges in the state, many voters at her events condemned Mr. Trump’s comments as disrespectful, but some also complained that she had spent too much time firing back at the former president. Terry Kiser, 72, a retired law enforcement officer, said he voted for Mr. Trump twice but attended her event in Orangeburg on Sunday to give her a fair chance. He said he came away disappointed.
“She was hurt when he made comments about her husband Mike, and I understand that – to a degree,” he said. “But you can’t dwell on things like that.”
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2024-02-17 16:39:42
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