Nikki Haley tears Trump apart for 'chaos and distraction'

President Donald Trump’s former United Nations (UN) ambassador warned that her ex-boss is causing “chaos” and “distraction” with his erratic behavior.

“Ambassador, I covered your presidential campaign in 2024, and at the time you said Donald Trump was unhinged and diminished,” CNN anchor Dana Bash asked Nikki Haley, who served as Trump’s UN ambassador before later running against him in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries. “Do you still feel that way?”

Haley replied, “I think that he has the ability to cause chaos, and I think he has the ability to cause distractions.”

The former South Carolina governor then pivoted to praising her fellow Republican, adding “when I look at how he's managed — you know, the immigration effort, which was a catastrophe — I think he's handled that well. When I look at the fact that he's dealing with our adversaries in a way that's strong and not weak, I think that's incredibly important. I think that a lot of the things that he has done, he's done well.”

Then, returning to her veiled criticisms of Trump, Haley added that “it's just sometimes how he does it that causes chaos.”

Haley has previously used a soft approach toward criticizing the Republican leader. In February she told Fox News host Bret Baier that "there has not been enough focus on the affordability issue for Americans. You still have too many kids living at home, you still have people who can't deal with rent, you see people, they have less money in their wallets, and you can't look at the stock market and say the economy is doing well.”

She added, "We're looking at now $39 trillion in debt. Social Security is going to run out in over six years, leaving 75 million Americans having to make a choice. Something needs to be done.”

Speaking to AlterNet about criticisms of President Trump’s handling of the economy and the Iran war, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said that “President Trump has been clear about short-term disruptions as a result of Operation Epic Fury, and the Administration went into this military engagement with a plan to mitigate these disruptions to America’s long-term economic resurgence.”

He added, “As energy markets begin to stabilize, historic tax refund checks hit the mail, and the rest of the Trump administration’s pro-growth agenda continues taking effect, Americans can rest assured that the best is yet to come.”

Another White House spokesperson, Taylor Rogers, was similarly defensive about the administration’s economic and foreign policies

“The United States’ energy dominance status, as the world’s leading producer and a top exporter of oil and natural gas, has positioned us to not rely on the free flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz like other countries,” Rogers told AlterNet. “If anything, Operation Epic Fury actually underscored the importance of producing reliable, affordable, and secure energy here at home. Many of our allies that have tried transitioning to intermittent and unreliable renewable energy sources have predictably failed to break their reliance on foreign oil that goes through the Strait."

She concluded, "Several countries from around the world are now looking to emulate the President’s energy dominance agenda and are advancing new partnerships that enhance their energy security with the United States.”

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