Nikki Haley Aims for a Strong Finish in Iowa

GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who edged past Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the latest Des Moines Register/NBC News poll said Sunday that she’s not worried that the numbers may put a target on her back in Monday’s Iowa caucuses. 

“We’ve always had a target on our back,” the former South Carolina governor said on “Fox News Sunday.” “That is a great thing. The poll is caucus day. We want to come out of Iowa looking strong, New Hampshire strong, and South Carolina strong. This is continuing state by state and we are trying to get every vote we can and we’re not going to stop until the last second.”

And even with Iowa’s record-cold temperatures expected to affect the numbers of people heading out for the caucuses Monday night, Haley said the momentum and energy on the ground for her campaign is strong.

“The only numbers that matter are ones [where] we go up and everybody else went down,” she said. “The Iowans will decide tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day. It is go time and we’ll crisscross the state. I think intensity will show tomorrow.”

Haley also Sunday discussed the implications of Taiwan’s election on China and how she would deal with the issue of the United States’ growing tensions with China. 

“It was a big blow to China without question,” she said. “They have been intimidating with drones and election misinformation trying to change the results and democracy won…America should support democracy and freedom and we’ll continue to support Taiwan.”

She also discussed statements made by DeSantis indicating she backed a two-state solution concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but Sunday, she called on the elimination of Hamas and to bring the hostages the terrorists seized on Oct. 7 back home.

“We need to let the Israelis do what they need to do,” she said. “[Joe] Biden says he supports something, but then he wants to control it. You have to be a friend and allow them to make the decisions. Israel needs to know there will no longer be a threat coming out of Gaza. We need to support, not control Israel.”

Further, Haley said that while she was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, what she saw was “it is not [that] Israel didn’t want a two-state solution; the Palestinians did not.”

“The Palestinian Authority is not serious about a two-state solution,” she added. “They want to eliminate Israel. The Palestinians don’t want Israel to exist. Israel has come to the table more times than they need to. Look at Oct. 7. Israel needs to protect their people.”

Haley also on Sunday denied comments from former President Donald Trump claiming she wants to raise the age for collecting Social Security and Medicare from 65 to 74. 

“He’s not telling the truth there and it cracks me up,” she said. “I never said I wanted to raise it…every candidate says they will not touch it. You will leave office and everybody will have a 23% benefit cut. The accountant in me is saying get in front of it and keep our promise. People should not live in fear. “

Meanwhile, Haley’s husband Michael, a U.S. Army major, was deployed this past summer for a yearlong stint in Africa with the South Carolina Army National Guard, she said she’s proud of his service. 

“We have a country to save,” she said. “I’m doing this and Michael is doing this because we don’t want our kids to live this way. The chaos is uncontrollable. You don’t defeat Democratic chaos with Republican chaos. We can’t be a country in disarray and go through four more years of chaos. Put the names of Biden and Trump in the past and look forward to the future so our kids have a better life.”