Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said that former President Trump and his running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) “need to change the way they speak about women” in an interview Monday.
Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade asked Haley on “Fox & Friends” why she thought Vice President Harris has a 14-point lead on Trump among women.
“I think it’s because Donald Trump and JD Vance need to change the way they speak about women,” Haley replied. “You don’t need to call Kamala dumb. She didn’t get this far, you know, just by accident. She’s here. That’s what it is. She’s a prosecutor.”
“When you call even a Democrat woman dumb, Republican women get their backs up too,” Haley added later in the interview. “The bottom line is, we win on policies. Stick to the policies, leave all the other stuff. That’s how he can win.”
Haley, who offered her full endorsement of Trump during the Republican National Convention in July, made similar comments in an interview aired on Sunday.
During an interview with “Face the Nation,” CBS’s Margaret Brennan noted Vance’s remarks that he was “disoriented and disturbed” that the had of a powerful teacher’s union doesn’t have children.
“He continues to say things that certainly are highlighted as being offensive to women. That is going to hurt, won’t it, with female voters?” Brennan asked.
“It’s not helpful,” Haley responded.
Both Trump and Vance have received blowback for comments they have previously made about women.
Vance has faced particular ridicule for comments he made in 2021 in which he said that the U.S. was being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”
He said the remarks were “sarcastic” in late July.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.