Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley told CNN's Dana Bash on Friday that she is most worried about Donald Trump's lack of focus when it comes to "fiscal discipline" if he were to be elected president in November.
The Context
Trump has long been the Republican frontrunner in the 2024 presidential race, but Haley, the former South Carolina governor and ex-United Nations ambassador, has been fighting to be the choice for Americans who don't want another Trump presidency.
The national debt is currently at $34.38 trillion, according to FiscalData, a website launched by the Office of Fiscal Service of the U.S. Department of The Treasury. Many Republicans have advocated cutting national spending to help manage the debt problem, but Congress has not been able to pass a funding package for the 2024 fiscal year.
What We Know
Bash asked Haley on Inside Politics with Dana Bash: "What are you most worried about with a potential second Trump term, policy-wise?
"He doesn't focus on fiscal discipline," Haley said. "We're going down a fiscal cliff. We're now paying more money in interest than we are in our defense budget. Russia, China and Iran pay attention to that. As much as he rails against government, he didn't shrink it. He didn't clean it up. He didn't do anything."
Haley also slammed the former president's foreign policy positions.
"We've got wars around the world. Literally, the world's on fire. And you're talking about stepping away from our allies? And siding with a tyrant? You're talking about becoming more isolationist? You're talking about the fact that gonna make Americans think that they have to choose between Ukraine and Israel over the southern border when the reality is we need to do all of those things and we can."
Newsweek reached out to Trump's and Haley's campaign via email for comment.
During a campaign rally in South Carolina in February Trump opposed a $95.34 billion foreign aid package that the Senate has since passed. The bill includes giving $61 billion to Ukraine in its war with Russia and $14 billion to Israel as it fights Hamas in Gaza.
"They want to give like almost $100 billion to a few countries," the former president said at the time. "I said why do we do this? If you do, you give them not $100 billion, you give it to them as a loan."
He shared an anecdote from his time in office in which he told the president of a NATO country that if they did not pay their fair share of dues, the United States wouldn't protect them from a Russian attack.
"They asked me that question, one of the presidents of a big country, stood up, said, 'Well sir, if we don't pay and we're attacked by Russia, will you protect us?' I said, 'You didn't pay, you're delinquent?' He said, 'Yes.' Let's say that happened. No, I would not protect you, in fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want," Trump said.
Meanwhile, Haley has laid out her plan for reducing inflation and the national debt if she were to become president, calling it the Freedom Plan. It includes vetoing any budget that doesn't return America to pre-COVID-19 spending levels, as well as withholding Congress' pay if lawmakers fail to pass a yearly budget.
The Views
An overwhelming 93 percent of Americans believe that taxes and government spending are important issues, according to a The Economist/YouGov Poll conducted from February 25 to February 27. The poll found that 87 percent of respondents believe that foreign policy is important and 93 percent believe that national security is important.
When looking at the favorability ratings for Trump versus Haley, 45 percent of Americans said they have a favorable opinion of Trump, while 34 percent favored Haley.
The poll surveyed 1,688 U.S. adults and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percent.
What's Next?
Trump has so far won every state-level primary and caucus, including in Haley's home state of South Carolina, aside from the Nevada primary, where he was not on the ballot. Haley received 43.2 percent of the vote in the New Hampshire GOP primary and 39.5 percent in the South Carolina contest.
It is likely, at this point, that November will see a rematch between Trump and Democratic incumbent President Joe Biden.
Update 3/1/24, 6:30 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Rachel Dobkin is a Newsweek reporter based in New York. Her focus is reporting on politics. Rachel joined Newsweek in ... Read more
