A former aide to former President George W. Bush blasted former President Trump for his mocking of GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s husband over the weekend for being away on a military deployment.
“Yeah, he’s an asshole,” Scott Jennings said on CNN’s “State of the Union” in response to Trump’s remarks the day before.
During a South Carolina rally on Saturday, Trump mocked Haley’s husband, who was deployed to Africa in June last year with the South Carolina Army National Guard, for being absent from the campaign trail.
“Where’s her husband?” Trump said. “‘Oh, he’s away, he’s away.’ What happened to her husband? What happened to her husband? Where is he? He’s gone.”
His comments sparked criticism from Haley, who said Trump has “no business being commander in chief.”
Jennings suggested Trump was taking a cheap shot at Haley. She lost the early races in Iowa and New Hampshire to Trump and lost the Nevada primary race to “none of these candidates.” There were no delegates up for grabs in the Nevada primary race, but there were in the Nevada caucuses, which Trump won.
“It’s not the first time he’s been an asshole. That won’t be the last time he’s been an asshole. But that’s what it is now. So people like it. And I know people are going to slough it off as well, ‘This is just a tough political campaign.'” Jennings said.
“The man is serving the United States in uniform overseas. So it’s a below-the-belt shot against someone who is not going to beat him for the nomination,” he added.