The Trump presidential campaign issued a scathing response on Tuesday after his last remaining GOP challenger, former Ambassador Nikki Haley, announced she is not dropping out of the race to “kiss the ring” despite facing a 30 point deficit in her home state of South Carolina.
“She’s going to drop down to kiss a– when she quits, like she always does,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, shortly after she announced she is staying in the race at least through Saturday’s South Carolina primary.
“I feel no need to kiss the ring,” Haley told a crowd in Greenville, South Carolina on Tuesday. “And I have no fear of Trump’s retribution. I’m not looking for anything from him. My own political future is of zero concern.”
“I refuse to quit,” Haley added. “South Carolina will vote on Saturday. But on Sunday, I’ll still be running for president. I’m not going anywhere.”
TRUMP HOLDS LARGE LEAD OVER HALEY 4 DAYS FROM SOUTH CAROLINA GOP PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY
Nikki Haley, left, and former President Donald Trump, right, (Getty Images)
In her remarks, Haley outlined her belief that the calls for her to drop out are coming from “the political elite” and “party bosses” and that only three states have voted so far with many more to come in recent weeks.
“I’m campaigning every day until the last person votes because I believe in a better America and a brighter future for our kids,” Haley said. “Nothing good in life comes easy. I’m willing to take the cuts, the bruises and the name calling because the only way you get to the blessing is by going through the pain.”
“The presidential primaries have barely begun. Just three states have voted. That’s right. Three. That’s it. After this weekend, we’ll be four. That’s not a lot,” Haley explained. “In the ten days after South Carolina, another 21 states and territories will vote, and they deserve a real choice, not a Soviet-style election when there’s only one candidate, and he gets 99% of the vote. We don’t anoint kings in this country. We have elections. And Donald Trump, of all people, should know. We don’t rig elections.”
SPEAKER JOHNSON TALKS 2024 WITH TRUMP AT MAR-A-LAGO AS HALEY VOWS TO STAY IN GOP PRIMARY
Nikki Haley hosts a rally in Conway as part of her swing in the Palmetto State leading up to the State’s primary, in Conway SC, United States on January 28, 2024. (Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Haley also said that part of her rationale for staying in the race is that “the majority of Americans” have signaled they “dislike both candidates.”
“We have plenty of time to hash this out,” Haley said. “If the race ended today, we would have the longest general election in history. There are still eight and a half months before Election Day. How do we really want to spend every day from now until November? Watching America’s most two most disliked politicians duke it out? No sane person wants that.”
Nearly 800 delegates are up for grabs on Super Tuesday as 15 states hold Republican presidential contests on March 5, with over 150 at stake over the following two weeks, the Trump campaign predicted in a memo released Tuesday that the former president would secure the nomination on March 19, even under a “most-generous model” for Haley.
The Trump memo predicted an “a– kicking in the making” in South Carolina and said the “true ‘State’ of Nikki Haley’s campaign” is “broken down, out of ideas, out of gas, and completely outperformed by every measure, by Donald Trump.”
In response to Cheung’s comment, Haley spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas wrote on X, “xoxo” along with a kissing emoji to which Cheung responded, “All of our internship positions have been filled, but maybe you can apply for next term.”
“What a move,” Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney wrote on X in response to Cheung’s comment. “@TheStevenCheung is the key to winning back suburban women! #AreYouTiredOfWinningYet.”
“You should ask Susie Wiles what she thinks about her people harassing women online and at our events,” Perez-Cubas said in a statement to Fox News Digital referring to an earlier altercation on the campaign trail.
HALEY SAYS SHE WOULD PARDON TRUMP IF CONVICTED: ‘TIME TO MOVE FORWARD’
The Trump campaign said NBC News reporter Vaughn Hillyard was not banned or barred based on his reporting. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Cheung told Fox News Digital in a statement Tuesday that “Nikki ‘Birdbrain’ Haley can’t name one state she can win” and “she keeps getting crushed after every single contest.”
“At this point, she’s Crooked Joe Biden’s biggest surrogate.”
Trump’s campaign memo and Haley’s speech came out hours before Trump returns to South Carolina on Tuesday to headline a Fox News town hall in Greenville hosted by Laura Ingraham. The pre-taped one-hour event, which will focus on both domestic issues and overseas conflicts, will air at 7 p.m. ET.
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The Real Clear Politics average of polls heading into Saturday’s primary election in South Carolina shows Trump leading Haley by 25 points.
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report
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