Trump’s new nickname for Nikki Haley: Birdbrain

Former President Donald Trump has added another nickname to his repertoire of those that he gives out to people he’s not fond of, christening fellow Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley as Birdbrain.

Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social that he and “MAGA will never go for Birdbrain Nikki Haley.”

He criticized Ms. Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations during his presidency, for having “no loyalty, plenty of lies” and for going back on originally saying she would not run for president in 2024 if Mr. Trump were also running.

“’I will never run against our great president,’ she said, ’he has done an outstanding job,’” Mr. Trump wrote, quoting the former governor of South Carolina. “To which I responded, ’How nice of you to say, Nikki,’ knowing full well that her words mean nothing. She even came to Mar-a-Lago with her family ’bearing gifts.’ Anyway, Birdbrain doesn’t have the TALENT or TEMPERAMENT to do the job. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”

The nickname comes after Ms. Haley, along with the other candidates, attacked Mr. Trump on the debate stage in California on Wednesday.

She responded to her new moniker on X, saying: “Love this. It means we are in 2nd and moving up fast. Bring it!”

Ms. Haley has soared to the No. 2 spot in the polls, according to a new poll conducted by the Saint Anselm College Survey Center in New Hampshire. She sees support from 15% of voters, second to Mr. Trump but ahead of the other candidates.

In the debate, she attacked Mr. Trump for his relationship to China during his presidency, saying he focused too much on trade rather than how the Chinese were buying U.S. farmland and “killing Americans.”

The former president’s nickname for Ms. Haley is in keeping with his monikers. He famously refers to President Biden to Crooked Joe, a label he switched from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He has frequently referred to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as “Ron DeSanctimonious.”