Nikki Haley goes after Biden for branding critics 'fascists' and Trump for calling migrants 'vermin'

MIAMI, FLORIDA: Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley minced no words as she lashed out at both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in an address on Saturday night, February 24.

Haley's speech came in the wake of losing her home state to Trump in early returns, where she found herself trailing by a significant 20-point margin.

Nikki Haley goes after Donald Trump and Joe Biden

In her scathing rebuke, Haley denounced the fixation on past grievances, a clear swipe at Trump's revisitation of his claims regarding the 2020 election fraud.

"We won't get out of our downward spiral if we keep obsessing over the past," Haley declared to a crowd of supporters.

Taking aim at the apparent political divide perpetuated by both Biden and Trump, Haley lamented, "Does anyone seriously think Joe Biden or Donald Trump will unite our country to solve our problems? One of them calls his fellow Americans fascists. The other calls his fellow Americans vermin.  They aren't fighting for our country's future. They're demanding we fight each other."

Haley's criticism echoed Biden's own denunciation of what he labeled as the "extreme MAGA" philosophy in 2022. "It’s not just Trump, it’s the entire philosophy that underpins the — I’m going to say something, it’s like semi-fascism," he said, drawing parallels to Hillary Clinton's infamous "basket of deplorables" comment during the 2016 campaign.

Trump, on the other hand, has faced criticism for his inflammatory language, including referring to migrants as "vermin" and accusing Biden supporters of fascism.

"He's surrounded by some very bad fascists," Trump said at CPAC. "I would rather lose my freedom than surrender to this group. of thugs and tyrants, fascist scoundrels and rogues," he added, after criticizing Biden and the "deranged prosecutors" he blamed for his criminal indictments.

Haley could have also pointed to Trump's repeated claims of election fraud in 2020. Despite courts rejecting these claims and his loss in the popular vote by 7 million votes, Trump continues to assert claims of widespread fraud.

Furthermore, during his CPAC speech on Saturday, Trump escalated his anti-immigrant rhetoric, likening migrants to Hannibal Lecter and propagating fear-mongering about "migrant crime."

“I wanted to call it Biden migrant crime [but that was] just too long,” Trump said and added, “So we just call it migrant crime."

“We have a new category of migrant crime, and it’s going to be more severe than violent crime and crime as we know it,” he continued. “Because we have millions and millions of people and they came from prisons and jails. They came from mental institutions, and [were] insane," he remarked.

“So they’re not the same thing. An insane asylum is a mental institution on steroids. It’s Silence of the Lambs. Okay, you know that Hannibal Lecter? They’re all being deposited into our country,” he insisted. He further stated, “And then you have terrorists and then you have drugs. And then you have human traffickers, and they’re coming over at levels never [seen] before.”

Haley's criticism of dwelling on the past resonates with her broader narrative of urging a forward-looking approach, which includes implicit jabs at the advanced ages of both Biden and Trump, aged 81 and 77, respectively, compared to her own 52 years, the Daily Mail reported.

Social media backlash

However, her remarks drew sharp rebukes on social media, with some accusing her of hypocrisy and pandering to political expedience. 

"Literally she’s crying," one posted on X.

"Someone tell @NikkiHaley that calling people 'vermin' is not the same thing as acknowledging there are actual 'fascists' in this country," another wrote.

"There’s not a fence narrow enough that this woman won’t straddle," someone else added.

"These hacky focus-grouped lines are the reason no one likes you, Nikki. All the donor money in the world couldn't make you likable," another reacted.

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