Democratic strategist James Carville on Sunday blasted former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley as “spineless” for supporting former President Trump’s bid for reelection.
He pointed to Haley’s Sunday morning interview on CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” where she laid out a strong case for supporting Taiwan but stood by her endorsement of the former president, despite his past indications that he might not defend Taiwan if necessary.
“I saw Nikki Haley on another network this morning. Oh my God. And she was talking about how much she loved Taiwan, and [the anchor] pointed out that Trump said, ‘Well, I don’t care about Taiwan. It’s 6,500 miles away. Let China do what it wants,’” Carville said, paraphrasing Trump’s past comments in a Sunday interview on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki.”
“And then she started talking about Afghanistan,” Carville continued. “Does that woman have any courage at all? Because if she does, it’s not particularly evident to anybody.”
“I don’t know if she’s more spineless or gutless, but one of the two certainly apply to her,” he added.
Trump, in a Bloomberg interview this past summer, indicated he thought Taiwan should pay the US for protection, saying, “They’re immensely wealthy,” and, “I don’t think we’re any different from an insurance policy.”
“Taiwan is 9,500 miles away. It’s 68 miles away from China,” Trump said in the July interview.
Haley was asked about Trump’s Taiwan comments in the interview that aired Sunday and said she agreed with him that the U.S. does not need to send troops to Taiwan but advocated for helping the country “economically, militarily, diplomatically” as much as possible.
Pressed on whether she agrees with Trump’s suggestion that Taiwan should be paying the U.S. for protection, Haley said, “No, and I’ll be the first one to say that’s not the way it should be.”
“There are no perfect administrations here, by any means, but Trump was definitely stronger when it came to national security, as opposed to the Harris administration,” Haley said in the interview.
Carville’s criticism of Haley came in a larger conversation about the significance of the Harris endorsements this week from former Vice President Dick Cheney (R) and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who also previously served as the third-highest ranking House Republican, before she was ousted for speaking out against Trump’s 2020 election lies.
Haley ran a bitter primary challenge to Trump’s 2024 bid, and some were surprised when she came out to endorse the former president. She was highly critical of Trump on the campaign trail and has similar foreign policy views to the Cheneys.
“Liz and Vice President Cheney’s endorsement, and a bunch of others, I think it’s going to give license to some traditional Republicans, probably more foreign areas, you know, who don’t like Trump that never voted for a Democrat [to say], ‘Well, okay, I can do this,’” Carville said. “And it’s not going to be a huge number of people, but it has a potential to be very helpful.”
“I think there are people who say, ‘Man, I gotta hold my nose. I don’t know if I can do this. And, oh, damn, Dick Cheney’s doing it. I guess I can,” Carville added. “And I think that’s important, and he doesn’t equivocate.”
The Hill has reached out to Haley’s team for a response.
