When it comes to the race for the Republican presidential ticket in 2024, Donald Trump has reserved most of his ire for Ron DeSantis, who hasn’t even announced his campaign yet. In fact, the former president only has one rival: his old employee Nikki Haley. The former governor of South Carolina was the U.S. ambassador to the UN in his administration. Trump has used kid’s gloves on her so far, only giving her a little bit of grief. But on Wednesday, it was Haley who not-so-subtly came for him.
Nikki Haley: “We’ll have term limits for Congress, and mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old … strong and proud, not weak and woke, that’s the America I see.” pic.twitter.com/OxEBcRONnz
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 15, 2023
During her formal presidential campaign announcement, Haley reiterated a sentiment she’d expressed before, namely that the GOP needs some new blood. “America is not past our prime. It’s just that our politicians are past theirs,” she told the crowd at one point.
She soon went further than that. “In the America I see, the permanent politician will finally retire. We’ll have term limits for Congress,” Haley said. “And mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old.”
Haley didn’t name names. Her statement also clearly referred to someone else in particular: sitting president Joe Biden, who turned 80 last November. Then again, she said 75 years old. Trump is 76, and he turns 77 in June. That said, he’s mentally fit, right? After all, he used to brag — relentlessly, weirdly — about passing a very basic cognitive test. So maybe he’ll be fine. Still, Haley’s message was clear: The GOP needs to move on from cranky old bullies, even ones who’d call someone like Ron DeSantis “Meatball Ron.”
(Via Mediaite)