Sparks fly in GOP primary as Nikki Haley finally stands up to expose Trump's false claims

Former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is taking the fight to former President Donald Trump with a new ad scorching him for lying about her record during an event in New Hampshire, reported The Daily Beast on Tuesday.

In particular, she took aim at a Trump ad that went after her tax record.

"The ad, which focuses on a non-existent gas tax in South Carolina during her time as governor, marks the first major dustup between the two candidates, as The Daily Beast reported on Wednesday," reported Jake Lahut. "'I see the commercials that you see, and I’ve noticed that President Trump is giving me some attention,' Haley said before kicking off a Q&A with voters at Wentworth by the Sea, a swanky ocean shore country club. 'And I appreciate that, because that means he sees what we’re seeing, but in his commercials and in his temper tantrums, every single thing that he’s said has been a lie.'"

In reality, Haley did in 2016 back a proposal that included a gas tax increase along with income tax cuts — but she never passed it, and, as she noted in the ad, Trump himself proposed a federal 25 cent per gallon gas tax increase in 2018. Haley has been running on abolishing the federal gas tax altogether in her 2024 presidential campaign.

Haley went on to attack Trump for his handling of the economy, saying that job conditions might have been "great," but that “our kids will never forgive us” for the $8 trillion added to the national debt under Trump to help continue that growth. “You don’t go and pretend to have a good economy by putting us in debt.”

In recent weeks, Haley has become more of a focus of the Republicans who want an alternative to another Trump nomination, as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, once considered the strongest Trump alternative, appears to be headed for campaign collapse.

But despite this, Trump still dominates the field, with the latest FiveThirtyEight aggregates showing Trump with a 50-point lead over both Haley and DeSantis.