Donald Trump ‘Runs A Fairly Brutal Smear Machine’

With Nikki Haley’s formal entry into the 2024 presidential race, Donald Trump has his first official rival for the Republican nomination, and CNN’s Jake Tapper says Haley’s team is likely “girding for some really ugly attacks” from the Trump campaign. “Donald Trump runs a fairly brutal smear machine that does not rely upon facts or even basic standards of decency,” Tapper said.

Tapper’s comments came as Haley, who served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President Trump, launched her campaign in Charleston, South Carolina, saying America was ready for a “new generation” and ready to close the door on the “failed ideas and faded names of the past.”

Trump has yet to target Haley, telling CNN on Tuesday that “even though Nikki Haley said, ‘I would never run against my President, he was a great President, the best President in my lifetime,’ I told her she should follow her heart and do what she wants to do. I wish her luck!”

Trump was referencing a statement Haley made in April 2021, when she said she “would not run if President Trump ran.” Haley later said she believed America needed a “new generation of leadership.”

CNN’s John King said that should Trump begin to attack Haley, it could backfire. “Donald Trump has a problem with strong women,” King said. “We’ve just watched it play out throughout his career. So it could actually, if she handles it right, turn out to be an asset for her.”

Haley, for her part, did take a veiled shot at Trump—and President Biden—by saying that should she become president, “we’ll have term limits for Congress, and mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old.”