Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley chalked up former President Donald Trump’s comments about her name and heritage to him feeling “threatened [and] insecure” by her performance in the polls.

At a CNN town hall Thursday, the former South Carolina governor was asked about Mr. Trump‘s comments that call attention to her Indian heritage.

She brushed them off, noting she was born in Bamberg, South Carolina.

“And look, the name-calling, I know President Trump well. That’s what he does when he feels threatened. That’s what he does when he feels insecure,” she said. “I don’t take these things personally. It doesn’t bother me. I know him very well. And this is what he does. I know that I am a threat. I know that’s why he’s doing that.”

She said she’s not going to get into “the name-calling back with him.”

Mr. Trump used Ms. Haley’s first name in a Truth Social post Tuesday criticizing her speech after she placed third in the Iowa caucuses. He even misspelled her name, Nimarata.

“Anyone listening to Nikki ‘Nimrada’ Haley’s wacked out speech last night, would think that she won the Iowa Primary,” Mr. Trump wrote.

• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.