Elise Stefanik faces backlash after she defends Trump for confusing Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi

CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE: Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a Republican representative from New York, defended Donald Trump's recent statement, which has raised concerns about his cognitive abilities.

Per MeidasTouch, during a campaign speech in Concord, New Hampshire, on Friday, January 19, former President Donald Trump blamed Nikki Haley, his primary opponent, for the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, in 2021, leaving many people baffled.

This instance of onstage slip-up quickly spread across various social media outlets, with several commentators suggesting that Trump's cognitive abilities were on the decline, considering the GOP presidential frontrunner is currently 77 years old.

When asked about the incident, Stefanik, who is reportedly seeking to be Donald Trump's pick for vice president, provided a statement that was even more perplexing.

She insisted that Trump's remarks were intended to confuse Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi, a prominent Democratic political figure, who has served as the Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023.

This statement from the New York congresswoman is concerning, as it appears to be a deliberate attempt from the Republican representative to deflect the media’s attention from Donald Trump's alleged deteriorating cognitive abilities.

What did Rep Elise Stefanik say to defend Trump?

Last week, on Friday, Donald Trump addressed the crowd at Concord, New Hampshire, saying, "You know, by the way, they never report the crowd on January 6th. You know, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, you know, they did you know, they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, everything deleted it, destroyed all of it. All of it because of lots of things, like Nikki Haley is in charge of security. We offered her 10,000 people."

When a reporter pressed Stefanik on the obvious slip-up from Trump on Friday, she responded, “That isn't a mix-up. The reality is Nikki Haley is relying on Democrats just like Nancy Pelosi to try to have a desperate showing in New York, in New Hampshire.”

The reporter interjected, “But he was talking about January 6th.”

“President Trump has not lost a step. He is a stronger candidate, stronger than he is today, than he was in 2016 and he was in 2020,” Stefanik replied without directly acknowledging the untruthfulness of his statements.

During this election cycle, the cognitive health of Donald Trump has become a topic of major concern on the Republican side, as, in recent times, he has made numerous puzzling statements that have raised questions on the same.

For instance, he has claimed to be beating Barack Obama in the polls, suggested that buying bread requires voter ID, falsely accused Jeb Bush of sending American troops to the Middle East, referred to corn as 'non-liquid gold,' and even credited Joe Biden with starting World War II, despite the former Vice President's birth in 1942.

These and other similar statements have led to discussions about the mental acuity of the GOP frontrunner and his prospects of running a country upon re-election to the Oval Office.

Internet slams Stefanik for defending Trump

People on X mocked the New York Republican for failing miserably to conceal the former President's shortcomings leading up to his third consecutive run for the White House.

One X user stated: "If your candidate is of sound mind, you simply say he misspoke, got momentarily confused, something plausible…and move on. If your candidate isn’t playing with a full deck, you make up a ridiculous explanation, because you expect him to keep doing it."

Another user remarked: "The reality is Elise Stefanik is relying on being chosen as Trump’s VP."

Another user quipped: "@RepStefanik isn’t very good at being Trump’s Propagandist in Chief. She’s too easy to fact check, and she’s usually wrong."

One user wrote: "Elise Stefanik is the worst of the worst. Even she knows how terrible and bad she sounds. She's not stupid. She's really just willing to do and say anything to be Donald Trump's vice president. It's no wonder why so many people in her personal life no longer talk to her."

Another X user remarked: "Yep. We are screwed."

Finally, this user tweeted: "Stefanik IS going down with trump."

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.