Nikki Haley stumbled at an event in Los Angeles by forgetting where she was after finally moving west and rejecting Nevada by refusing to campaign in the early primaries that she said were “rigged” for Donald Trump.
Her efforts to make up some ground in California and earn at least some delegates there on Super Tuesday could be futile as she trails the former president by 42 points — 66 percent to 24 percent.
Haley was confronted by a single environmentalist during her stop at an American Legion in California on Wednesday evening and dismissed them with, “God bless them.”
She also boasted that she spent a year campaigning and “beat a dozen guys” with only one to go: front-runner Donald Trump.
But the former U.N. ambassador didn’t make a single move in Nevada over the past year, deciding the early primary state in the West wasn’t worth her time because she couldn’t pick up delegates because of a shaky state change. this year.
Former United Nations Ambassador. Nikki Haley forgot which Southern California county she was campaigning in during remarks before an American Legion in Los Angeles on Wednesday night
It led to an embarrassing defeat in the Battle Born State in Tuesday’s primaries, where the “none of these candidates” option defeated her by a margin of 32.9 percent.
Haley went to California on Wednesday – the day between the Nevada primaries and the caucus – to try to ensure that she does not lose to all the delegates there too. The Republican Party in California decided this year that if a candidate receives 50 percent or more of the vote, he or she earns all the delegates in the state.
“It’s great to be here in Orange County,” Haley said as she took the stage, which the crowd immediately corrected with shouts at the 2024 hopeful.
“Oh, LA County, sorry,” she chuckled. “I was in Orange County before.”
Haley added, “I don’t even know where I sleep these days, so you’ll have to forgive me.”
“Next week I’ll be a year into the campaign, and thinking about what that year has been like, we had 14 candidates,” she noted. “We were able to beat a dozen other guys.”
The blunder was reminiscent of 77-year-old rival Trump’s blub in October, when he said he was in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, but actually in Sioux City, in the first primary state of Iowa.
President Joe Biden, 81, has also often forgotten where he is, mixing up cities and states several times in recent years while in office and during his campaign.
Haley often points to Biden and Trump’s age and mental fitness as limiting factors on their ability to serve in the White House — and points to their blunders as evidence. She also says lawmakers over the age of 75 should be required to take mental competency tests.
One climate change activist interrupted Haley’s comments and held up a sign that read: “Haley = Climate Criminal.”
About halfway through Haley’s remarks on Wednesday, she was interrupted by a lone protester holding a sign that read, “Haley = Climate Criminal.”
It turned out to be an individual from the same Sunrise Movement environmental activist group, members of which interrupted a series of campaign events in Iowa and New Hampshire last month during their respective primaries.
‘Where there is one, there are usually more. So don’t be surprised if more show up,” Haley said, though no others erupted.
“But let me tell you, never get upset when you see a protester,” she added. “Because my husband and his military brothers and sisters make sacrifices every day for the right to do so.”
Despite her stunning defeat to “nobody” in Tuesday’s Nevada primary and her inability to pick up delegates for Thursday’s caucus because she is not on the ballot, Haley still maintains she is not withdrawing from the race.
Instead, she says she’s looking ahead to Super Tuesday, when California and fourteen other states cast their votes in the Republican primaries.
“As we get ready for Super Tuesday, as we start to look at what’s out there, just know that I’m not going anywhere,” Haley told an enthusiastic crowd in Los Angeles.
“I’m in this for the long haul,” she added. “And this is going to be messy, and this is going to hurt, and it’s going to leave some bruises.”
“But in the end, I don’t mind taking it, as long as you come with me.”