With just days until the Iowa caucuses, former President Donald Trump and his team have shifted to targeting GOP presidential rival Nikki Haley as they seek to slow her recent momentum before the first votes are cast this primary season.
The turn to Trump’s one-time ambassador to the United Nations marks a significant change in strategy for the former president and his campaign. The front-runner had spent the better part of the last year solely attacking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who had long been considered his top GOP challenger. However, recent polls have shown an unmistakable surge for the former South Carolina governor, particularly in New Hampshire, where a new CNN survey showed Trump’s lead shrinking to single digits.
But even though he has publicly sought to downplay recent polls – and he still holds a commanding lead over the GOP field elsewhere – Trump’s team is taking Haley’s rise seriously, with the former president homing in on her stances on immigration as he seeks to emphasize his own hardline proposals.
During a series of campaign events in Iowa last weekend, Trump leveled his sharpest attacks on Haley yet. And after stopping all ad buys attacking DeSantis, Trump’s campaign launched its first television ad directly taking on Haley on immigration in the Granite State last week. The leading super PAC supporting Trump released its version on the same topic on Monday. Together, they are spending a combined $4.5 million on ads attacking Haley in New Hampshire, attempting to tie her to President Joe Biden’s policies and criticizing her rhetoric on immigration. A Trump adviser said to expect a continued focus on immigration, as they believe it is a top issue for voters in the state.
Trump has made border security and curbing illegal immigration a key part of his White House bid and has escalated his anti-immigrant rhetoric in recent campaign…
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