It has been noted that Nikki Haley faced down a surprising critic on Thursday when answering questions during a campaign stop in North Conway, New Hampshire via Mediaite.
“Chris Christie thinks you’re a flip-flopper on the Donald Trump issue, and honestly, I agree with him. You’re basically the new John Kerry,” the boy said to laughter and added, “If you remember Kerry from 2004.”
“How can you change your opinion like that in just eight years, and will you pardon Donald Trump?” the boy followed up.
Haley, who had just tried to clean up her Civil War gaffe, took the question in good humor and asked for the boy’s name and age. The boy identified himself as Adam, that he was nine, and in the fourth grade. Haley told the boy she was “very proud” of him for coming to the event and asking such a sophisticated question.
Haley replied by saying, “The first thing I will tell you is, is politics is about distraction.” She went on to say that both “anti-Trumpers” and “pro-Trumpers” criticize her stance on the former president, but that she’s “just telling you the truth like I see it.”
“I told you that I agreed with a lot of his policies. But do I think he’s the right president to go forward? No,” Haley said. “We can’t handle the chaos anymore.”
Haley continued and addressed Christie directly, saying, “I mean God bless him, he’s a friend. He’s obsessed with Trump. He sleeps, eats and breathes it, every day. I’m thinking bigger than that. If we do that, we’re no different than Trump.”
She went on to argue that she is “no John Kerry” and has not flip-flopped on Trump, arguing instead that Trump was the right president at the time, but now has too much baggage.
Haley also said she would consider pardoning Trump, saying, “What’s in the best interest of the country is not to have an 80-year-old man sitting in jail that continues to divide our country.”
