Donald Trump lashed out at his former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Tuesday after she suggested that he pivot away from attacked GOP opponent Nikki Haley, whom he defeated in the New Hampshire primary.
During his victory speech to supporters and in subsequent posts to his TruthSocial platform, Trump repeatedly mocked Haley, calling her "DELUSIONAL." During an appearance on Fox News on Tuesday, McEnany, who now works for the cable network, voiced disapproval of her former boss' message, noting that it "was a speech to dispose of the last remaining competitor, if you could call it that.”
“She’s [sic Haley] still significantly behind him, he’s pulling a majority support, but to get her out of the race. I would suggest that adopting a general election tone is what you do at this point, and here’s why I say this," McEnany continued. "This was actually a fairly good night for Joe Biden. When you look at our voter analysis, only 10% said, 'I would not vote for Joe Biden if he’s the nominee.' He won a plurality of voters who said he was too old, he won a majority of voters who were upset about the Gaza war. When you look at the Republican Party, seven in ten Nikki Haley voters said, ‘I would not vote for Trump.’ There was a Des Moines Register poll, 43% said, ‘No, I wouldn’t vote for Trump.'”
She continued: “If I’m Trump, I sit back and I exclusively focus on the general election."
"I take the posture of a presumptive nominee. I focus on, number one, uniting the party, and number two, winning the independents, which Nikki Haley won 55-39%. That’s what I would do. Nikki Haley, I mean, the closest margin is 30% in the states ahead. For all intents and purposes, he’s the presumptive nominee.”
The ex-president, for his part, was not happy the unsolicited advice. Responding to McEnany with another angry rant, Trump wrote on TruthSocial, "I don’t need any advice from RINO Kayleigh McEnany on Fox. Just had a GIANT VICTORY over a badly failing candidate, ‘Birdbrain,’ and she’s telling me what I can do better. Save your advice for Nikki!” In a separate post, Trump fumed, “CNN & MSDNC TREATED MY BIG, DOUBLE DIGIT VICTORY OVER BIRDBRAIN, BETTER THAN FOX!”
