Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley released a new campaign ad that included a mashup of her rival Donald Trump praising her while she served as US ambassador to the United Nations in his administration.
“Donald Trump had lots of nice things to say when I stared down Russia, China, Iran and North Korea at the UN and stood up for America,” she wrote in a social media post. “Now he sees me as a threat and he’s singing a different tune.”
The Haley campaign told Politico the ad reflected Trump’s frustration with the former South Carolina governor’s growing popularity, saying he was “only singing a different tune now because he’s threatened by Haley’s rise in the polls.”
Recent polls show Haley in second place behind Trump in New Hampshire’s upcoming primary, although the former president leads by an average of 13 percentage points.
Haley finished in third place in Monday’s Iowa caucuses, but her campaign cast the showing as a political victory that demonstrated American’s frustration with their Republican choices in the 2024 race.
The latest ad reflects an uptick in aggression toward the former president. Haley has recently moved to declare both Trump, 77, and President Joe Biden, 81, as too old to lead the country. And a new ad running in New Hampshire says the pair are the “two most disliked politicians in America,” both “consumed by chaos, negativity and grievances of the past.”
Trump, for his part, has increased his attacks against Haley in recent weeks as she has risen in the polls in New Hampshire, which will hold its Republican primary on Tuesday. At a rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on Wednesday, the former president derided his competitor, repeating his claims that she is supported by “Democrats and liberals” and that her nomination would cost the Republican across the nation.
She responded to those claims Wednesday, saying Trump was “confused about his own record.”
Haley recently declared she would refuse to appear at any more Republican primary debates unless Trump was also on the stage. The decision prompted ABC News and CNN to cancel events in New Hampshire this week.