Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s campaign launched a new website Tuesday accusing presidential candidate Nikki Haley of running for the White House just to become former President Trump’s vice president.
The “Trump-Nikki 2024” website lists a series of comments made by Haley and other politicians that the campaign argues shows she wants to be Trump’s vice president, not president. The website also plays off of Trump by dubbing the mock campaign’s slogan as “Make the Establishment Great Again!”
“For years, Nikki Haley has wanted to be Donald Trump’s Vice President… and now she is using her 2024 candidacy to finally make her VP dream a reality by following the lead of the former president as they’ve combined to spend over $30 million against Ron DeSantis, all while she refuses to attack Trump,” the website states.
DeSantis has been critical of Haley in recent days as she surges in New Hampshire polls. He recently pressed the former U.N. ambassador to answer whether she would accept a vice presidential nomination from Trump if he asked her.
“There’s a reason why they spend money against me. Haley and Trump spend money against me,” DeSantis said during a campaign stop in New Hampshire earlier this month. “He has not spent any money against her, and she has not spent any money against him.”
“She will not answer directly, and she owes you an answer to this: Will she accept a vice presidential nomination from Donald Trump? Yes or no?” he added.
Despite the DeSantis campaign’s claims Haley and Trump do not attack each other, super PACS associated with Haley and Trump released dueling ads Tuesday in New Hampshire criticizing each other. The ad supporting Haley argued Trump is attacking the former South Carolina governor because she is the only threat to him securing the GOP nomination.
“Of all the Republicans running for president, why is Donald Trump only attacking Nikki Haley? Because Trump knows Haley’s the only one who can beat him,” the narrator in the ad stated.
The MAGA Inc. ad released Tuesday criticized Haley for walking back a 2013 South Carolina gubernatorial promise to not raise the gas tax. Haley said Tuesday that the ad means Trump is “getting nervous” about her.
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung dismissed the website when reached for comment by The Hill.
“Holy shit, the DeSanctus campaign is really staffed by dumbasses,” he said.
The Hill has reached out to the Haley campaign for comment.