Trump's Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley has been lambasted online after issuing criticism of former Republican Vice President Mike Pence that many say is rife with hypocrisy.
Haley, whom many have speculated plans to run for President in 2024, was once one of former Republican President Donald Trump's most vocal right-wing critics. But Haley swiftly got in line once Trump won the 2016 Republican nomination and even earned herself a spot in his administration.
And now, as 2024 inches closer, she is bending over backward not to offend the former President, whose imprimatur is seen as make-or-break by many Republican politicians when it comes to their future election plans.
In a seeming effort to play both sides of the issue, Haley gave Fox News an eye-rollingly obsequious critique of Pence's recent criticisms of Trump for having pressured him to unconstitutionally overturn the 2020 election during and in the lead-up to the January 6 insurrection.
See her comments below.
In her discussion with Fox News' Brett Baier, Haley criticized Pence for essentially not being a team player, even though she claims she agrees with what he did.
“Mike Pence is a good man. He’s an honest man. I think he did what he thought was right on that day."
"But I will always say, I’m not a fan of Republicans going against Republicans.”
So, Pence did the right thing, but you don't like it, because you don't like "Republicans going against Republicans," which you expressed by going after a Republican on national television, in defense of Donald Trump, a Republican who has made a political career out of attacking people in his own party?
Did we get that right?
The backlash against Haley was swift--not just because of the nonsensical, circular logic of her response, but because Pence's criticism of Trump was simply on the basis of what the constitution says.
As he put it during his statement to the Federalist Society:
"President Trump is wrong... Under the constitution I had no right to change the outcome of our election."
On Twitter, people of both parties wasted no time putting Haley in her place.
As both Haley and Pence are widely expected to run for the Republican nomination for President in 2024, they just may have a chance to discuss this face-to-face. It will be interesting to see how Haley handles that conversation.
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