Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley pitched a tent in San Antonio aiming to rally support ahead of the crucial March 5 primary. At Market Square on Friday, Haley took shots at former president Donald Trump's foreign policy while vowing to enhance health care for veterans — a pressing issue in Military City USA. Drawing a crowd who cheered and booed on cue, the former South Carolina governor did not shy from taking jabs at Trump, claiming "the closest he's ever come to being in harm's way is by a golf ball if he's sitting on a golf cart," according to the San Antonio Report.
Despite a lukewarm start in the early primaries, Haley is not easing off the gas. In the Nevada primary, she trailed behind with less votes than "none of these candidates" — a fact Trump supporters were quick to flaunt. Unfazed, Haley used her 30-minute speech in San Antonio to emphasize a connection to the military community, drawing on her husband's year-long deployment, and called for a generational shift within the GOP. "We need change, and it’s about time we got a woman in the White House," attendee Rhonda Ruiz told the San Antonio Report on Haley's push for fresh Republican leadership.
At the same rally, the ex-U.N. ambassador agreed with Texas Governor Greg Abbott's controversial tactic of busing migrants to sanctuary cities, a pivot to address border security concerns. "I totally agree with Governor Abbott sending these illegal immigrants to the sanctuary cities," Haley stated, also voicing her intent to reinstate the "Remain in Mexico" policy. However, she dodged Abbott's more contentious immigration practices such as using barbed wire or criminalizing illegal border crossings, San Antonio Report noted.
Haley, playing to a crowd partially comprised of servicemen and women, reminded them that Trump once disparaged military members as "losers" and "suckers." Echoing her previous sentiments, she reaffirmed the voters' appetite for a different choice, claiming that polls indicate Americans are ready for new perspectives outside the choices of Trump and President Joe Biden. "Now let me say this, you will hear all the media pundits say, 'but what if, but what if.' But what if...I'm not going anywhere," Haley declared, in a statement obtained by Texas Public Radio.
Despite the presence of Trump supporters and pro-Palestinian activists at the rally, who occasionally disrupted the event, most of Haley’s supporters seemed confident in her ability to close the gap with the former president. Jennifer Hughes, expressing her preference for Haley over Trump, told Texas Public Radio, "I am hopeful there are enough intelligent people in our country to see that he is completely a loser, and we don't need him again." While Haley herself vowed to persevere in the race, acknowledging Trump's looming legal battles, she encouraged her base, "He’s going to be in court in March and April, and he’s going to be in court in May and June, and we’re going to be on the campaign trail."
