Trump Takes A Pot-Shot At Nikki Haley, Says He Did South Carolina A 'Favor' By Choosing Her For UN Ambassador

Donald Trump has come down hard on his protégé and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley shortly after she announced her presidential bid.

What Happened: Haley very publicly stated she “would never run against the President. He did a GREAT JOB, and was the best President in my lifetime,” Trump said on his Truth Social media platform shortly after she announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination.

“I told Nikki to follow her heart, and not her ambition or belief. Who knows stranger things have happened. She’s polling at 1%, not a bad start!!!” he added.

Haley had said in 2021 that she wouldn’t run for the Oval Office if Trump decides to launch a presidential campaign.

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In a separate post, he insinuated that South Carolina was better off not having Haley as governor. Trump said the greatest thing Haley did for the country and the state of South Carolina was to accept the position of U.N. Ambassador. This allowed the then Lieutenant Governor Henry McMaster to be the governor of South Carolina, he noted.

The former president lauded MacMaster and said he did an “absolutely fantastic job.”

Trump added, “That was a big reason why I appointed Nikki to the position – It was a favor to the people I love in South Carolina.”

Haley was appointed as the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. in 2017.

Haley, however, has refused to be drawn into a war of words with the former president and said on “Fox & Friends” that “Donald Trump is my friend.....I’m not kicking sideways in this race. I’m kicking forward. It is Joe Biden who’s the president.”

Trump, meanwhile, reposted a number of op-eds on his Truth Social account that took potshots at Haley, calling her an "interventionist neoconservative," a "flip-flopper" and a "born-loser."

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Photo: Gage Skidmore on flickr