'Will continue to defy everybody': Nikki Haley hits back at Joy Reid's criticism on 'Fox & Friends'

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley joined co-host Brian Kilmeade on the January 16 episode of 'Fox & Friends' to talk about the results of the Iowa caucus and share her hopes for New Hampshire.

The former UN Ambassador came third in Iowa, behind Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. However, she remains confident of turning things around despite MSNBC's Joy Reid doubting her chances.

"The elephant in the room, she (Haley) is still a brown lady that's got to try to win in a party (GOP) that is deeply anti-immigrant, it's still a challenge. I don't see how she becomes the nominee of that party. With Donald Trump still around, I can't picture it happening," Reid said on her network on January 15, later adding, "Maybe it could happen."

Nikki Haley's response to Joy Reid

When asked about Reid's comments, Haley stated, "Joy Reid lives in a different America than I do. I mean, yes, I'm a brown girl (who) grew up in a small rural town in South Carolina who became the first female minority governor in history, who became a UN ambassador, and who is now running for president. If that's not the American dream, I don't know what is."

"You can sit there and give me all the reasons why you think I can't do this. I will continue to defy everybody on why we can do this, and we will get it done," she continued.

Nikki Haley slams Joy Reid's comments on racism

Haley stressed that the GOP is not racist, and neither is the United States.

"We're not a racist country. We've never been a racist country. Our goal is to make sure that today is better than yesterday," she told Kilmeade. "Are we perfect? No, but our goal is to always make sure we try and be more perfect every day that we can."

"I know I faced racism when I was growing up, but I can tell you today is a lot better than it was then," Haley went on to share. "Our goal is to lift up everybody, not go and divide people on race or gender or party or anything else. We've had enough of that in America."

"That's why I'm so passionate about doing this. I don't want my kids growing up where they're sitting there thinking that they're disadvantaged because of a color or gender. I want them to know that if they work hard, they can do and be anything they want to be in America," she added.