President Donald Trump on Wednesday took aim at former ally Nikki Haley ― but instead of using her name, dismissed her with a very strange sound.
Speaking in South Carolina, Trump praised Gov. Henry McMaster.
“He’s great,” Trump said, adding that he picked Haley, who was the state’s governor at the time, to be ambassador to the United Nations in 2017 just so that McMaster could become governor.
“I’d say 90% of the reason I took the governor,” Trump said, referring to Haley, except he wouldn’t say her name. Instead, the president let out something between a gag and a belch ― then continued his sentence.
“I took the governor, I put her over at the United Nations because I wanted this guy to be, I wanted this guy to become governor,” Trump said. “He’s turned out to be the best governor maybe ever.”
Haley has praised Trump’s policies, but criticized his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and eventually ran against him for the 2024 presidential nomination, calling him “unhinged” and “more diminished” than he was in his previous term.
She ultimately endorsed Trump but has not been invited back into his inner circle.
Based on that noise the president made on Wednesday, it doesn’t look like that will change anytime soon.
That noise also echoed on social media: