Nikki Haley finally goes there on Donald Trump's mental fitness

I mean, come on!

(Donald Trump)

At a speech Friday night in New Hampshire, Donald Trump said this:

“You know, by the way, they never report the crowd on Jan. 6. You know, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley….Nikki Haley was in charge of security. We offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, National Guards, whatever they want. They turned it down. They don’t want to talk about that.”

Uh, what?

Trump is — obviously — confusing Haley, who he is running against for president, with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who he is not running against for president. (Also, his charges against Pelosi are not true.)

It’s far from the first time he has mixed up people on the campaign trail. Trump regularly suggests, for example, that Barack Obama and not Joe Biden is the current president of the United States.

But, this time, Haley actually called him on it!

“My parents are up in age…when you see them hit a certain age there is a decline,” she said on Saturday. “That’s a fact, ask any doctor there is a decline. I’m worried that we’re not going to have somebody that’s on it in two years from now.”

Which, well, yeah.

While Biden’s age (he’s 81) and mental acuity have taken center stage in the 2024 campaign to date, Trump — he’s 77 — is no spring chicken either. And I can tell you from going through most of the speeches he gives, he makes plenty of mistakes and sometimes sounds downright incoherent too.

Trump has largely dismissed questions about his mental acuity — insisting that he is being sarcastic when he mixes people up (that explanation makes NO sense) and repeatedly referencing the mental acuity test he passed while president (and apparently more recently.)

“A few months ago I took a cognitive test my doctor gave me, I said give me a cognitive test just we can, you know, and I aced it,” Trump said Saturday. “I also took one when I was in the White House.” 

It’s worth noting here that medical experts have suggested Trump is exaggerating about what the mental fitness test actually proves. “It’s a very, very low bar for somebody who carries the nuclear launch codes in their pocket to pass and certainly nothing to brag about,” Jonathan Reiner, a cardiologist and professor of medicine and surgery at the George Washington School of Medicine & Health Sciences, told the Washington Post.

Now. I don’t think the fact that Haley — FINALLY — got up the courage to go after Trump on his mental acuity is going to change much of anything in the GOP presidential race (except maybe make it less likely he will pick her for vice president).

Two new polls out Sunday morning show Trump with a comfortable — if not overwhelming — lead ahead of Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary.

In a CNN poll Trump is at 50% to 39% for Haley. An NBC Boston/Suffolk University survey puts Trump at 55% to Haley’s 36%.

It’s too little, too late. And, it’s not at all clear to me that this Republican electorate, which seems unwilling to hear ANY criticism of Trump, would even respond to questions about whether he is mentally fit for the job.

But, I do think it will have an impact going forward in the general election. Trump has made no secret of his plans to make Biden’s age and mental state a major focus of the campaign. His stump speech includes a riff on Biden allegedly being unable to find his way off a stage after delivering an address.

Polling suggests there are considerable concerns about Biden’s age and ability among the electorate, making Trump’s attacks potentially potent. But, if Trump’s age and acuity ALSO become an issue for voters then the issue is significantly more muddled, a major win for Biden and his team.

Suggesting that they may go down this road, the Biden campaign shared the video of Haley going after Trump’s mental mistakes on Twitter X on Saturday.

Maybe that is a sign of things to come?