Donald Trump ridicules Republican rival Nikki Haley for delivering speech to half empty hall at CPAC

Former President Donald Trump ridiculed Republican rival Nikki Haley on Saturday, pointing out that her speech to the MAGA faithful was delivered before a half empty hall at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

‘Congratulations to Nikki Haley on drawing such a large crowd at CPAC,’ he posted on TruthSocial with a photo of empty rows. ‘As I told her, “Nikki, follow your heart!”‘

CPAC regulars say the event has lacked energy this year, with some key figures staying away in an election cycle ‘off year.’ 

Haley was one of a number of contenders who risked appearing before a hostile audience, and even used the occasion to repeat her call for candidate over the age of 75 to face a mental ability test.

Trump is 76.

In contrast, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis stayed away from an audience of Trump loyalists.

Former President Donald Trump ridiculed Republican rival Nikki Haley on Saturday, pointing out that her speech to the MAGA faithful was delivered before a half empty hall at the Conservative Political Action Conference

There were lots of empty seats at CPAC’s second full day on Friday 

Nikki Haley said the Democratic Party is now ‘socialist’ and said ‘wokeness’ is more dangerous than any public health crisis in a speech Friday

That brought Haley kudos from some Trump lieutenants.

‘Yes, @CPAC, like the GOP at-large, is dominated by Donald Trump,’ said Taylor Budowich, who runs the MAGA Inc super PAC. ‘It’s not easy to show up and stand in that shadow, but you can’t compete if you don’t show up. 

‘Props to those like Nikki, Pompeo, Vivek etc who had the courage to show up and compete.’

He tweeted it with a video of Haley leaving her speech as Trump supporters chanted. 

In her speech Haley said the Democratic Party was now ‘socialist’ and said ‘wokeness’ is more dangerous than any public health crisis in a speech Friday. 

‘The Democratic Party is now a socialist party. Bernie Sanders and AOC are at least honest about it,’ the told a crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). ‘Socialism is weakening our country at the worst possible moment.’

And after a coronavirus pandemic that has killed 1.13 million Americans, Haley said, ‘wokeness is a virus more dangerous than any pandemic – hands down.’

The former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor called China the ‘strongest and most disciplined enemy we have ever faced.’ 

‘I can’t believe what Joe Biden is letting China get away with,’ she said. ‘Never in my life did I think Americans would look at the sky and a see a Chinese spy balloon looking back at us.’

‘Chinese companies now own more than 380,000 acres of American soil, some of it right next to our military bases,’ Haley went on. ‘What are we doing? We should never let an enemy buy land in our country.’

The Republican presidential candidate claimed President Biden is having U.S. troops take ‘gender pronoun classes’ rather than combat training. 

‘A strong military doesn’t start wars. A strong military prevents wars,’ she said. ‘I’ll bring the same strength to the White House that I did to the United Nations.’

Haley touted her work at the UN compiling a list of nations and cross-checking how often they voted with the U.S. and how much aid the U.S. was giving them. 

‘They stab us in the back then turn around, with their hands out, wanting our money,’ she said. ‘To this day, we’re giving foreign aid to Pakistan, Iraq, the Palestinians, and even Communist Cuba and China.’

‘We need to stop trying to buy friends. All we’re doing is paying off enemies. When I’m president, we will stop giving money to countries that hate America!’ 

‘Never in my life did I think Americans would look at the sky and a see a Chinese spy balloon looking back at us,’ Haley said 

After calling for mental competency tests and term limits, Haley knocked both Biden and congressional Republicans for adding to the national debt after Republicans brought back earmarks last year. 

‘[Biden] has put us on track to add $20 trillion more in the next 10 years. And by the way – some Republicans have helped with that,’ she said. ‘We need to stop with the earmarks and pet projects – once and for all!’

Haley entered the race for the presidency in mid-February but is currently polling well behind former President Trump – who has already launched a bid – and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has not yet done so. 

According to an Emerson College poll released this week, Trump is leading the pack in a hypothetical matchup at 55 percent of GOP primary/caucus voters and DeSantis trails him at 25 percent. 

Vice President Mike Pence is behind at 8 percent and Haley behind him at 5 percent.