He insulted the basic intelligence of Nikki Haley. “It’s not her attitudes, it’s her basic intelligence,” Christie said Wednesday. “If you want to disagree on issues, that’s fine. Nikki and I disagree on some issues. … What we don’t disagree on is that this is an intelligent, brilliant woman and you should stop insulting her.”
The crowd cheered.
But Christie did not defend Haley exclusively. Later, during a segment about China and Taiwan, Christie criticized Haley for saying Trump was good on trade.
Christie’s volatile approach to Haley comes as she steadily rises in the polls after a string of strong debate performances.
And in New Hampshire, where Christie has staked his second bid for the White House, it is Haley who makes the strongest claim as the leading contender against former President Donald Trump. She has risen to second place in polls of likely GOP voters. Christie, while also on the rise, trails behind in third.
Voters in the New Hampshire town halls of both candidates told Politico they were torn between the two former governors. But as Haley has gained momentum in the first state primary and in other states, such as Iowa, where Christie is not competing, and South Carolina, where she has a home-state advantage, voters in recent weeks have increasingly said they view Haley as the only home state. More viable filter.
So, as the two compete for many of the same voters — more moderate Republicans and independents who could cast ballots in the Granite State’s GOP primary — Christie reorganized his speech, which had been focused almost entirely on Trump, to draw contrasts with Haley. also.
At a town hall in Concord, New Hampshire, last week, Christie criticized Haley for saying days earlier at an evangelical rally in Iowa that she would have signed a six-week abortion ban if it had reached her desk when she was governor of South Carolina. .
“You can’t be a truth teller and say one version of the truth in Iowa when you’re in front of a very conservative group, and then when you’re here in New Hampshire, with a libertarian crowd, you can say ‘Live free’ or ‘Crowd, you have an answer,’” Christie said. Different ones you think they’ll like.”
