By Eric Bradner, Arit John, Alayna Treene, Kylie Atwood and MJ Lee | CNN
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is growing more defiant in the face of Donald Trump’s efforts to push her out of the 2024 Republican primary race, poking and prodding at the former president and encouraging supporters to wear Trump’s attacks as a badge of honor.
Returning to her home state Wednesday, Haley mocked Trump’s victory speech in New Hampshire the night earlier — one in which the former president raged about the concession speech Haley had just delivered.
She said Trump “pitched a fit,” called him “insecure” and declared he “should feel threatened, without a doubt.” She cast doubt on his mental competency — the same line of attack Trump and his allies have long leveled at President Joe Biden — and dared Trump to debate her one-on-one.
“Bring it, Donald,” she said in North Charleston. “Show me what you got.”
Haley’s increasingly pointed attacks on Trump come amid pressure from many Republicans for her to drop out of the 2024 primary race so that the party can coalesce around the former president — who is seeking a third consecutive nomination.
Polls show Haley is far behind Trump in South Carolina, where many of her former allies have turned on her and the Republican primary electorate is much more conservative than that of New Hampshire — where she lost to Trump by 11 points.
Still, she remains a thorn in the former president’s side, provoking his ire in ways the 2024 Republican presidential contenders he’s already dispatched never did.
And Haley’s aides say that’s intentional.
Her campaign is bracing for Trump to go too far in attacking Haley and believes those attacks are likely to boost her support in South Carolina. One campaign official said Trump’s attacks would be a “key piece” of Haley’s pathway to winning over Palmetto State voters ahead of the February 24 primary.
It’s the same strategy…
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