Democratic strategist James Carville on Sunday slammed former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley as “weak” for endorsing former President Donald Trump's presidential bid.
He pointed to Haley's interview on CBS News' “Face the Nation” on Sunday morning, in which she made a strong case in support of Taiwan. Signs of his past There is a possibility that Taiwan will not be able to defend itself if necessary.
“I saw Nikki Haley this morning on another network and my goodness, she was talking about how much she loves Taiwan. [the anchor] In an interview on MSNBC's “Inside with Jen Psaki” on Sunday, Carville noted that Trump said, “I don't care about Taiwan. It's 6,500 miles away. Let China do what they want.”
“And then she started talking about Afghanistan,” Carville continued. “Does that woman have courage? Because if she does, it's not clear to anyone.”
“I don't know if she's stubborn or has no guts, but it's definitely one or the other,” he added.
In an interview with Bloomberg this summer, President Trump said, “Taiwan has an enormous amount of wealth,” and “we see it as no different than an insurance policy,” indicating his view that Taiwan should pay protection fees to the United States.
“Taiwan is 9,500 miles away. It's 68 miles away from China,” Trump said in a July interview.
Asked about Trump's comments about Taiwan in the interview aired Sunday, Haley said she agreed with Trump that the U.S. does not need to send troops to Taiwan, but would insist on supporting Taiwan as much as possible “economically, militarily and diplomatically.”
Asked whether she agreed with President Trump's suggestion that Taiwan should pay for its defense, Haley replied: “I don't agree with it. I'll be the first to say it shouldn't.”
“There's no perfect administration here, but the Trump administration was clearly stronger when it came to national security as opposed to the Harris administration,” Haley said in an interview.
Carville's criticism of Haley comes amid a larger debate about the significance of the endorsements for Harris this week from former Vice President Dick Cheney (R-Wyo.) and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who was the third-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives before being ousted for criticizing President Trump for lying about the 2020 election.
Haley ran hard against Trump in the 2024 presidential election, but some were surprised when she announced her support for the former president. She was a strong critic of Trump during the campaign and has foreign policy views similar to those of the Cheneys.
“I think the endorsement of Liz and Vice President Cheney, and many others, gives a green light to some traditional Republicans who don't like Trump, who never voted Democrat, and maybe some people abroad,” he said. [to say]”They think, 'Oh, okay, I can do that,'” Carville said. “It's not going to get a huge number of people, but it has the potential to be very helpful.”
“I think some people are going to say, 'Oh, I've got to hang on. I don't know if I can do this. But Dick Cheney is doing it, so maybe I can do it,'” Carville added. “And I think that's the key, and he's not equivocating.”
The Hill has reached out to Haley's team for a response.
