Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said in an interview on Monday that former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), “need to change the way they talk about women.”
Fox News' Brian Kilmeade asked Haley on “Fox & Friends” why she thinks VP Harris has a 14-point lead over President Trump among women.
“I think it's because Donald Trump and J.D. Vance need to change the way they talk about women,” Haley responded. “You don't need to call Kamala stupid. It's not just a fluke that she got here. She's here. It's reality. She's a prosecutor.”
“Even Democrat women are being called stupid, and Republican women are being called stupid,” Haley added later in the interview. “The bottom line is, we win on policy. Stick to policy and leave everything else alone, and he'll win.”
Haley pledged her full support to Trump at the Republican National Convention in July and made similar comments in the interview that aired on Sunday.
CBS' Margaret Brennan pointed to Vance's comments in an interview on “Face the Nation” that he was “perplexed and disturbed” by the fact that some leaders of powerful teachers unions don't have children.
“He continues to make statements that are clearly offensive to women. Is this going to be a pain for female voters?” Brennan asked.
“That's not helpful,” Haley replied.
Both Trump and Vance have faced criticism for previous comments they have made about women.
Vance has come under particular scrutiny in 2021 after he said the United States is “run by childfree, catty women who are miserable about their lives and the choices they've made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”
In late July, he called the comments “ironic.”
The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
