Nikki Haley directly questioned Donald Trump's mental ability to handle the presidency on Saturday in New Hampshire, comparing him to her parents and saying that when people "hit a certain age, there is a decline." Haley was picking up on her Republican opponent's comments the day before in which he seemed to repeatedly confuse her with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Washington Post reports. "The concern I have is, I'm not saying anything derogatory, but when you're dealing with the pressures of a presidency, we can't have someone else that we question whether they're mentally fit to do this," Haley said in Keene, three days before the state's primary.
At a rally in Concord, Trump apparently was trying to blame Pelosi, as he has before, for the Jan. 6 violence at the US Capitol, saying: "Nikki Haley is in charge of security—we offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, National Guards, whatever they want. They turned it down." He used Haley's name several times. Anyway, the speaker has no say over the National Guard, per the Hill, and Pelosi's staff has contradicted Trump's unfounded version before. "The Speaker, a target of an assassination attempt that day, was no more in charge of Capitol security than Mitch McConnell was," an aide told the AP in 2021, per the Hill. Haley wasn't in government at the time.
Haley made generational references Saturday in an attempt to tie Trump and President Biden together. "You know, my parents are up in age, and I love them dearly," she said when asked if Trump, 77, is mentally fit for the job. "But when you see them hit a certain age, there is a decline. That's a fact." Bringing Biden into it, Haley asked the crowd, "Do we really want to go into an election with two fellas that are going to be president in their 80s?" Biden's campaign also tweaked "a deeply confused Trump" in a post on X that included a video clip of the remarks. Haley launched the age attacks on her birthday—she turned 52. Trump said this week that it's Haley who's not up to being president. "She's not smart enough," he said, per ABC News.
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Haley and Trump, who had a rally planned for Saturday night in Manchester, added endorsements by recent rivals:
- For Haley: Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who ended his campaign the day after the Iowa caucuses, posted on X that he's backing the former UN ambassador, per the New York Times. "Trump intentionally tries to divide America and will continue to do so," Hutchinson wrote.
- For Trump: Sen. Tim Scott endorsed the former president onstage at a rally Friday night, per CNN. "We need a president who will unite our country," Scott told the crowd. "We need Donald Trump."
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