EXCLUSIVE — Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s campaign is releasing a new digital ad, hammering former President Donald Trump over his escalating attacks on her husband, who is serving overseas in the South Carolina National Guard, while the former president avoided the military draft.
The ad titled “Donald Trump Doesn’t Understand Service,” released on Thursday features previous news coverage about how the former president avoided being drafted into the Vietnam War due to five deferments, one for bone spurs and four for education.
The ad is in response to Trump’s comments over the weekend in which he noted that Haley’s husband, Michael, has not appeared on the campaign trail with her.
“What happened to her husband? Where is he?” Trump said at a rally Saturday in South Carolina. “He’s gone.” Michael Haley is an officer of the South Carolina Army National Guard who is currently deployed supporting the U.S. Africa Command.
“To sit there and mock my husband for not being with me on the presidential campaign trail because he’s deployed and serving our country. You mock one veteran, you’re mocking all veterans,” Haley says in the ad in a clip from a recent Fox News interview.
ELECTION 2024: FOLLOW LATEST COVERAGE
Haley frames the former president’s comments as part of an ongoing pattern of disrespect toward military members and veterans. The former South Carolina Governor referred to a September 2020 report in the Atlantic that said Trump called soldiers who died in combat “losers” and “suckers” and questioned why veterans buried at Arlington National Cemetery would enlist.
“Whether he went and called military members suckers, whether he was at Arlington Cemetery, saying ‘what was in it for them, why would they do this?’ The problem with Trump is he hasn’t been anywhere near a uniform, he apparently had some sort of foot reason,” Haley said.
In a recent interview on CNN, Haley called Trump’s comments “disgusting,” and even took it a step further in the ad, slamming supporters who “excuse” his comments.
“These men and women sacrifice for us everyday, they are willing to shed blood, that’s the values that made this country great. And anybody that excuses what he continues to say against the military is hugely mistaken because this is going to be the President of the United States,” Haley is featured saying in the ad.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Haley regularly mentions her husband and his military service on the campaign trail in South Carolina, a state home to a large community of military families.
“Donald Trump’s excuse doesn’t add up, but it does explain his disrespect for our service members and veterans,” said Nachama Soloveichik, Haley’s communication director. “ “A man who went to elaborate lengths to avoid the uniform at all costs can’t understand the selfless sacrifice American heroes make.”
With just days until the South Carolina primary, it’s unclear if Haley will be able to change the dynamics of the race. An average of recent polling found Trump is still leading Haley in her home state by nearly 34 percentage points.