Republican presidential candidate former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley attacked rival President Donald Trump in a surprise appearanc...
Republican presidential candidate former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley attacked rival President Donald Trump in a surprise appearance during the ‘cold open’ of Saturday Night Live last night. Haley, who is trailing Trump by nearly 30 points in the latest poll for this month’s South Carolina primary and nearly 60 points in national polls, was well received by the liberal New York City television studio audience as she sparred with a Trump character during a candidate forum opening skit.
The cold open was a mock CNN South Carolina town hall with Trump, played by James Austin Johnson, being baited with questions about Taylor Swift and mocking Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) for his endorsement of Trump. The lines given to ‘Trump’ to read were typical smears by SNL, leaning heavily on ‘sexism’.
Haley stood up in the town hall audience to ask Trump why he won’t debate her. Haley followed by needling Trump, saying he “might need a mental competency test,” tweaking him about the $83 million E. Jean Carroll verdict, asking if he needs to borrow money, Trump’s age and asking him about losing his home state New York in elections.
SNL gave Haley the debate with Trump she has been craving in exchange for her trashing Trump to the show’s liberal audience. At the end of the scripted segment, Haley took a humorous barbed question on her botched answer about slavery last month in New Hampshire that SNL gave to her as a chance to clean up on national television.
Haley was also given the classic “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” line to read.
Haley’s campaign posted a clip of her appearance on X Twitter with a caption riffing on an exchange about the Sixth Sense movie mentioned in the cold open by ‘Trump’: ““I see dead people.” That’s exactly what voters will think if this race is between Trump and Biden in the fall. Had a blast tonight on SNL! Know it was past Donald’s bedtime so looking forward to the stream of unhinged tweets in the a.m.”
“I see dead people.” That’s exactly what voters will think if this race is between Trump and Biden in the fall.
Had a blast tonight on SNL! Know it was past Donald’s bedtime so looking forward to the stream of unhinged tweets in the a.m. pic.twitter.com/W43LlPOoi2
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) February 4, 2024
The complete SNL cold open:
Haley, 52, has no clear path to the Republican presidential nomination but is running the risk of alienating what support she has among older voters by her constant trashing of Trump over his age, 77, and her false comparisons to Joe Biden, who at 81 is clearly in cognitive and physical decline.
Trump has not, as of this writing, responded on Truth Social to Haley’s barbs on SNL.
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