Haley taunts Trump in ‘SNL’ cameo
Said she expected stream of ‘unhinged tweets’
WASHINGTON – Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley took her campaign-trail attacks on former Donald Trump over the weekend to the biggest stage yet: “Saturday Night Live.”
Appearing in the opening sketch as a South Carolina voter attending a Trump town hall, Haley delivered punchlines about her rival’s age and his refusal to debate her. She jabbed at what she has called “unhinged” statements from the Republican presidential front-runner and suggested that he take a “mental competency test.”
“You spent $50 million in your own legal fees,” Haley joked at one point to the “SNL” actor who typically impersonates Trump. “Do you need to borrow some money?”
The New York studio crowd whooped it up over their surprise guest.
Haley’s SNL cameo served notice to Trump of her intent to campaign aggressively in her long-shot bid for an upset in the Feb. 24 presidential primary in South Carolina.
Trump holds a huge lead in Haley’s home state and continues to dominate in national polls against his last serious GOP challenger.
Haley’s feistier approach is a gamble. The comedy skit put her back in the spotlight after she left the campaign trail for a few days to court donors. But the attacks on Trump might backfire with GOP voters she needs to win over.
After the “Saturday Night Live” gig, Haley said on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that she had “a blast” on the program.
“Know it was past Donald’s bedtime so looking forward to the stream of unhinged tweets in the a.m.,” Haley said.
Trump didn’t wait until the end of the program to launch his counter-attack. As Saturday’s installment was airing, Trump used his Truth Social account to post a commercial about Haley’s alleged flip-flops on various issues, from taxes to running for president.
He added a tagline: “Tricky Nikki.” Politicians have often used “Saturday Night Live” to knock their rivals – and to try to show voters they can take a joke. Trump himself hosted the show in 2015.
But the former United Nations ambassador’s jabs came after she had spent much of her campaign soft-pedaling her criticisms of Trump, as did many of the GOP challengers who have since left the race.
‘Are you doing OK, Donald?’
Haley stepped up her criticism of Trump after her losses in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Trump enjoys huge leads in Palmetto State polls, though Haley’s recent hits have gotten under his skin. He has attacked her Indian American heritage, mangled her name and confused her in a fiery speech with former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Haley in turn sought to hit Trump’s weak spots during her surprise appearance on “Saturday Night Live.” The show’s opening skit was a parody of a CNN town hall featuring the Trump character played by “SNL” regular James Austin Johnson.
The program cast Haley as a “conposing cerned” town hall attendee and offered her a chance to make her case against Trump. Her opening lines: “Why won’t you debate Nikki Haley?”
When the fictional Trump responded by again mixing up Haley and Pelosi, his GOP rival responded: “Are you doing OK, Donald? ... You might need a mental competency test.”
The Trump character then made fun of Haley’s name. At one point, he referred to her as “Nikki Haley Joel Osment,” a reference to the actor who stared in the 1999 horror film “The Sixth Sense” and uttered the famous line, “I see dead people.”
“Yeah,” Haley said, “that’s what voters will say if they see you and Joe (Biden) on the ballot.”
Despite the back and forth between a fictional Trump and Haley, she wasn’t spared from criticism during the show.
Haley had drawn drew intense criticism in December when she didn’t mention slavery when asked about the cause of America’s Civil War. Her fellow Republican candidates and President Joe Biden immediately called her out for the failure on the campaign trail, and Haley later walked back her comments.
At the end of a “Saturday Night” sketch, actress and host Ayo Edebiri,
as a voter, asked Haley: “What would you say was the main cause of the Civil War? And do you think it starts with an S and ends with a lavery?”
Haley responded: “Yep, I probably should have said that the first time.”
Taking the gloves off?
At the start of the 2024 campaign, Haley, as well as DeSantis, often avoided harsh criticisms of Trump. She would calibrate her comments by praising the former president’s policies but also saying the country needed to move on from the “chaos” that follows him.
Haley shifted to much more pointed − and personal − attacks after her thirdplace finish in the Iowa caucuses and second-place finish in the New Hampshire primary.
Now, Haley is trying to attract Republican and independent voters wary of Trump. But by sharpening her attacks on the former president, Haley is likely to further anger Trump’s supporters, who are the base of the Republican Party and could be for years to come.
Team Trump has suggested that Haley’s new approach will put her on the path to political ruin.
“Haley just torpedoed her political future,” Trump campaign aide Jason Miller wrote on X after Haley expressed confidence in the jury that awarded columnist E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in defamation damages from Trump.
“There is no point of return. Haley is politically finished for ’24, ’28, forever,” Miller said.
But Gibbs Knotts, a political science professor at the College of Charleston, said Haley’s “SNL” performance shouldn’t hurt her ahead of South Carolina’s primary, where the former governor is hoping to show that her campaign has picked up momentum.
“Generally, it’s good when politicians can show some humor,” Knotts said. However, he noted that her overall approach to Trump is challenging. Trump’s MAGA movement is likely to remain a factor if Haley runs for president again in the future.
“It’s a really tough situation she’s in,” Knotts said. “It’s a dilemma for so many Republicans today.”