Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley slammed Fox News in an interview on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday morning, claiming the right-wing network wants to “coronate” former President Donald Trump ahead of her head-to-head matchup in the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary, even after Trump claimed the network did not support him enough.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said she does not care how much Fox News wants to “coronate” ... [+]
In a Tuesday morning interview on “Fox & Friends,” Haley said she does not “care how much [Fox] want[s] to coronate Donald Trump,” arguing the “media” has claimed the 2024 primary is “Donald Trump’s to have.”
Haley, who served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, also accused the network of not reporting on Trump’s recent claim in a campaign advertisement that Haley plans to cut Social Security benefits if elected president (Haley proposed raising the age of Social Security eligibility for Americans in their 20s, but not to cut Social Security for current beneficiaries or people nearing retirement).
Haley’s comments come one week after Trump’s blowout victory in the Iowa caucuses, where he took 51% of votes, over Haley’s 19.1% and 21.2% for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who suspended his campaign last week.
When asked if she would continue to campaign in South Carolina—her home state and the site of the next primary on Feb. 24—if she loses in New Hampshire, Haley vowed to stay in the race in that scenario, arguing Trump’s victory in the Iowa caucuses is not reflective of “what the country wants.”
Haley went on to criticize Trump, saying he “starts to throw these temper tantrums” and “lie when he feels threatened,” after Fox host Steve Doocy asked Haley about a comment from a Trump adviser who told the Washington Post the former president’s campaign would “make it miserable for Haley as long as she stays in the race.”
On Monday, Trump argued Fox News has been pushing for a Haley GOP nomination, arguing in a post on his social media platform Truth Social the network was previously “all about Ron DeSantis” but has become the “BIRDBRAIN SHOW”—Trump’s nickname for Haley that has been chastised as misogynist. Trump also questioned why Fox brings in New Hampshire’s Republican Gov. Chris Sununu as a guest after Sununu—who hasn’t entered the 2024 field despite earlier speculation—endorsed Haley. Trump claimed that Sununu “ran for President, without having the courage to announce, and did really poorly,” adding: “To have this loser on so much is really bad TV.”
Trump, who made regular Fox appearances during his presidency, has also turned on the network, after it became the first outlet to call the results of the 2020 election in Arizona for President Joe Biden and after Trump’s claims of a “red wave” in the 2022 midterm elections failed to come to fruition. Trump has also gone after Fox News’ billionaire former chairman Rupert Murdoch, and blasted Fox as the “RINO Network” (Republican in name only), after court filings in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox revealed several hosts rejected Trump’s election denial theories off-air, even as those hosts brought on guests who supported Trump’s baseless claims. The former president targeted Fox early in the 2024 campaign cycle, claiming it promoted DeSantis “so hard and so much” while arguing the network downplayed an early primary poll that showed Trump ahead of DeSantis in a Republican primary matchup (Fox mentioned the poll multiple times after it was released).
17.6. That’s how many points Trump leads Haley among likely Republican voters in New Hampshire, according to FiveThirtyEight’s weighted polling average. While support for Haley has climbed substantially in recent weeks as a once-crowded pool of GOP challengers has narrowed to a two-person race, she still trails Trump by a commanding 56 points among New Hampshire voters who identify as conservative, and holds a meager eight-point lead among New Hampshire independents, according to a Suffolk University/NBC10/Boston Globe poll released this week.