Former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Monday took issue with ex-Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-Wyo.) criticism of her offer to campaign with former President Donald Trump to help secure his victory in November.
Cheney, who endorsed Kamala Harris last week and has repeatedly warned that Trump poses a threat to American democracy, told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that she could not judge Haley’s decision to embrace Trump “in any way, shape or form” given her past criticism of the former president during the Republican primaries.
In an interview with “Fox & Friends,” Haley said she disagreed with Cheney’s assessment.
“I respect her decision, but she can’t say my decision isn’t principled,” Haley said. “It actually is. We can vote on style or we can vote on substance. I vote on substance.”
Haley also claimed that Trump’s policies in several areas, including the economy, immigration and foreign policy, are better for the country compared to the performance of the current administration, which she blames solely on Harris.
“We have to be very clear. If you don’t like him, say you don’t like him,” Haley said of Trump. “But you can’t say his policies are worse than Kamala Harris’s. That’s just not true.”
Haley admitted that the upcoming election would be close and reiterated that she would be willing to appear on the campaign trail with Trump if he wanted her to.
“I’m ready,” she said. “I’m happy to help. I don’t want Kamala Harris to win. He’s the candidate. He can decide for himself whether he needs my support or not.”
Haley, who withdrew from the Republican presidential primary in March, had repeatedly described him as unfit for another term in the White House, calling him “unstable and deranged.”
Although she did not immediately endorse Trump after dropping out of the race, she ultimately said she would vote for him in May and endorsed his White House candidacy at the Republican Party convention in July.
Haley previously served in the Trump administration as ambassador to the United Nations.
Cheney and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, publicly announced their support for Harris last week.
“As citizens, we all have an obligation to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution,” Dick Cheney wrote in a statement.
Still, many Republicans on Capitol Hill dismissed Cheney’s unprecedented move as irrelevant.
“I think he’s lost touch with reality,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.).
