Internet divided as Ron DeSantis accuses Nikki Haley of appealing to 'very liberal Democrats'

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA: Florida Gov Ron DeSantis accused Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley of appealing to 'very liberal Democrats' amid her race to grab the party nomination for the 2024 presidential election, reported Fox News.

The former White House hopeful made the remarks during an appearance on 'One Nation with Brian Kilmeade' on Saturday, February 17, referring to the presence of liberal voters at some Iowa caucus sites in January.

"...There were 7,000 Democrats who showed up and switched to Republican on the night of the caucus. I was at a couple of these caucus sites. These were very liberal Democrats. They had N-95 masks on. They had shirts that had liberal slogans on, and that was a core part of her strategy was to appeal to those people," claimed DeSantis.

The GOP presidential contest has narrowed down into a duel between former President Donald Trump and Nikki Haley after DeSantis suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump before the New Hampshire primary.

Ron DeSantis argues Nikki Haley's strategy will not work

Despite the primary losses and constant calls to drop out of the presidential race, the former UN Ambassador stands firm in her decision to continue. However, DeSantis opined that her strategies would not help her win against the ex-President.

"Her strategy has been to appeal to people who are kind of stock Republicans, but that's just not going to work in a Republican primary. It's definitely not going to work against somebody who's as well-known and has already been president, like Donald Trump," the Florida Governor asserted.

DeSantis further argued that the majority of "conservative populist voters" of the current GOP do not support Haley; instead, her connection is only with the "20% who were more of McCain, Romney, Republicans."

"And look, we need a big tent. We need everyone in, but once you go in that direction, you really poisoned the well with the vast majority of Republican primary voters," he added.

On the other hand, Haley has not yet given into the opinions holding her incompetent when compared to Trump.

Standing firm on her view that the former president is "not the right person" to hold the office, the GOP White House hopeful, in a recent interview, refrained from explicitly declaring her decision to endorse Trump if he becomes the party nominee. "The last thing on my mind is who I'm going to support. The only thing on my mind is how we're going to win this," she stated on ABC News' 'This Week'.

Haley and Trump will face each other in the South Carolina primary on February 24, where the latter leads the polls with a clear majority.

Internet split over Ron DeSantis' remarks

Sharing their views on DeSantis' accusations against Haley, netizens split into two groups. While some mocked the Florida Governor for being jealous, another group agreed with him.

One user wrote, "He’s just jealous because he doesn’t appeal to anyone."

Meanwhile, another opined, "He's right, and most of the ones donating to Haley and voting for her are Democrats."

"That's laughable calling Nikki anything close to a liberal," read a third response.

One user added, "LOL so wearing a t-shirt makes you a liberal traitor now? Sounds like someone's got some insecurity issues..."

A fifth user said, "What I’ve been saying about Nikki Haley - She has crossed over to the dark side and has burned the bridge with the Republicans So disappointing."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.