Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday went after Nikki Haley while referring to her by her first name, Nimarata, in the latest example of Trump using racist dog whistles to attack his GOP presidential rival.
Haley is the daughter of Indian immigrants and was born Nimarata Nikki Randhawa. She took her husband Michael Haley’s last name after they married.
Trump misspelled Nimarata as “Nimrada” as he attacked her in a new post on his social media platform Truth Social.
“Anyone listening to Nikki ‘Nimrada’ Haley’s wacked out speech last night, would think that she won the Iowa Primary. She didn’t, and she couldn’t even beat a very flawed Ron DeSanctimonious, who’s out of money, and out of hope,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Trump also recently amplified a post that falsely claimed Haley was ineligible to run for president because her parents were not US citizens at the time of her birth. Haley was born in Bamberg, South Carolina, and is a US citizen.
The attacks echo Trump’s smears against former President Barack Obama. Trump was a chief promoter of the racist lie that Obama was not born in the US and ineligible to be president. Trump also regularly emphasizes Obama’s middle name, Hussein, at campaign rallies.
Vivek Ramaswamy, who dropped out of the GOP presidential race on Monday and endorsed Trump, has also tried to attack Haley over her given name.
Haley responded to the attacks from Ramaswamy in a Fox News interview, saying, “First of all, I was born with Nikki on my birth certificate, I was raised as Nikki, I married a Haley, and so that is what my name is, so he can say or misspell or do whatever he wants.”
CORRECTION: This story has been updated with the correct spelling of Nikki Haley’s first name.