Despite winning bipartisan praise for her speech responding to the President’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley drew the ire of pundits and politicians on the conservative right when some interpreted her words as criticism of her own party. “We’ll pick somebody, but we’ll pick somebody who’s very good”.
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Haley told NBC’s TODAY on Wednesday morning that she was indeed referencing the GOP frontrunner, saying “Mr. Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk”. And it prompted a sharp backlash from some of the party’s most fervent conservative voices.
“Let’s be clear – the GOP has an establishment, a political class, just like the DNC has an establishment and a political class”, she said, referencing the Democratic National Committee.
Outlining his idea of America’s global leadership in the coming decades, which he said would be of instability in West Asia, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in parts of Central America, Africa and Asia, Mr. Obama said: “We can’t try to take over and rebuild every country that falls into crisis”. “We disagree with.” In particular, he called on Haley to embrace Medicaid expansion in her state, a move that that has been resisted by many top Republicans.
“Look, President Obama tried to tell us that everything’s OK, that everything’s getting better”, Fiorina said.
“She was willing to do something that a lot of other Republicans, leading Republicans, have been unwilling to do”, said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. “When I say it about my other friends that are running for president, they don’t throw stones”. The presidential candidate called Haley’s speech “remarkable”.
“I got out there and talk everyday to Americans that it is time to take our country back, and our government back, and our future back”, Fiorina said. She also cited “chaotic unrest in many of our cities”, which seemed a reference to community anger in several cities over killings by police of unarmed black people. However, some Republicans are criticizing the governor’s choice to use the response to bash one of their own, GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump.
“No. 1, she’s very weak on illegal immigration”.
Conservative pundit Ann Coulter attacked Haley on Twitter during the speech, saying at one point, “Trump should deport Nikki Haley”.
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The divisions in the party pitting its business wing against the anti-establishment ranks will be a prominent theme in the upcoming nomination races – which start next month in Iowa, New Hampshire, and SC. “He supported me in both campaigns”, the two time Governor of SC said.
