Former President Donald Trump has confessed to intentionally mixing up Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) with GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, citing the difficulty of being sarcastic.
What Happened: Trump admitted to the mix-up during a rally in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday, reported The Hill. He explained that he is not a fan of either Pelosi or Haley and that when he interposed their names, people made a big deal out of it.
"So it's very hard to be sarcastic when I interpose. I'm not a Nicki fan, and I'm not a Pelosi fan. And when I purposely interpose names they said, ‘He didn't know Pelosi from Nikki, from tricky Nikki," he said.
Trump, who appeared to confuse Pelosi with Haley during a campaign stop in New Hampshire last month, claimed that Pelosi was to blame for security failures at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He instead blamed Haley.
This mix-up drew criticism from Haley and President Joe Biden‘s campaign. Haley questioned Trump’s mental fitness to be president, while Biden’s campaign mocked him for the apparent gaffe.
Trump’s rally in South Carolina comes ahead of the state’s primary election. Despite Haley being the only major challenger to Trump in the race, he leads her by nearly 35 points in South Carolina, according to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ’s polling average.
Why It Matters: Trump’s confusion about Pelosi and Haley has sparked further discussions about his mental fitness, an issue that has been raised before. In an earlier speech, Trump blamed the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol on Haley, confusing her for Pelosi. This has led to social media trends like “Dementia Don.”
Trump’s mix-up of Pelosi and Haley has further fueled the debate about the mental fitness of political leaders, especially given the recent poll results suggesting that a significant portion of voters question Biden’s mental fitness due to his age.
Image via Shutterstock
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