Inside Nikki Haley's Feud With Chris Christie
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie threw his hat in the ring to campaign for the Republican presidential nomination on the 2024 ticket, as did former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. Due to the nature of their political competition, it should come as no surprise that Christie and Haley found themselves at odds during debates and events for the nomination battle. However, their conflict went a little bit deeper than the standard partisan rivalry, which came especially as a surprise given that the pair had been on somewhat friendly terms in the past.
The cringiest moment of their conflict came when Chris Christie was caught saying quite unkind things about Nikki Haley (and fellow Republican nominee competitor Ron DeSantis) on a hot mic. But, their beef went a bit further than that. They took some pretty strong digs at each other's personal and professional behavior, and they also came to verbal blows about one very unsurprising topic: Donald Trump.
Chris Christie said Nikki Haley was 'going to get smoked'
On January 10, 2024, Chris Christie announced that he'd be dropping out of the Republican presidential nomination race, but his withdrawal from the political bout was overshadowed by what he said when he was not on stage.
Per NBC News, Christie had some harsh words for Nikki Haley, saying: "She's going to get smoked — you and I both know it. She's not up to this." He allegedly had some even harsher words for her that weren't caught on a hot mic, with a source telling the news outlet that the former governor was "calling her a joke and saying that she has performed terribly and is not up to the task." These barbs must have felt especially brutal to Haley as she and Christie had been pals for a long time, she revealed in a statement responding to Christie's decision to drop out of the race (via The American Presidency Project).
Chris Christie wasn't particularly contrite for the gaffe,though, publicly or privately. In an interview with "Good Morning America" (via The Hill), Christie called the flub "a complete mistake," but also added that he hadn't apologized to Haley, nor was an apology necessary.
The Republican politicans threw potshots at each other over Donald Trump
While Nikki Haley mostly kept things polite when it came to Chris Christie, she did say that "he's obsessed with Trump. He sleeps, eats, and breathes it every day." When offering his response to CNN, Christie criticized Haley for being wishy-washy on the topic of Donald Trump and refusing to give solid answers on key issues for voters. He took an extra jab at Haley for her unwillingness to say that slavery caused the Civil War.
Like many Republicans, Chris Christie initially backed Donald Trump, but Christie said he would never support Trump again after the January 6 United States Capitol attack. In the time since, Christie hasn't been shy about lambasting Trump and those who support him, and clearly Haley's equivocation has rubbed him the wrong way.
Haley, for her part, avoided taking a stance on Trump as much as possible, sometimes complimenting him while other times rebuking him, so she likely didn't appreciate the attempts that Chris Christie and many others made to force her to confess her genuine opinions.