©Reuters. Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally ahead of the Republican caucus in Las Vegas, Nevada January 27, 2024. REUTERS/Ronda Churchill
By Tim Reid
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Donald Trump on Saturday said he felt “more awake now than he did 20 years ago”, reacting to recent attacks on his age and verbal gaffes by Republican presidential rival Nikki Haley.
Trump also said presidential candidates should undergo a cognitive test, apparently a response to a challenge from Haley, who supported the same policy, citing the ages of Trump, 77, and Democratic President Joe Biden, 81.
Trump spoke at a rally in Nevada ahead of the next vote in the Republican presidential nomination race, a caucus in the state on February 8. In recent days, Haley has accused former Republican President Trump of being confused and questioned his ability to be president at his age.
Trump has made some verbal blunders recently. During a speech on January 19 he confused Haley with former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. On occasion he appeared to slur her words and even suggested that former Democratic President Barack Obama was still in office.
Trump is all but assured of all 26 Nevada delegates because Haley is not competing in the caucus. He attacked both Haley and Biden, seeking to eliminate Haley from the Republican nomination fight while scoring early points in a likely general election rematch with Biden in November.
Trump’s consecutive victories in the Iowa and New Hampshire Republican elections all but assured him of his party’s nomination for the White House. But he is furious that Haley, his last remaining Republican rival, has refused to drop out.
Trump and his allies have begun a campaign to force Haley to drop out of the race before the next major primary vote, in her home state of South Carolina, on February 24. Trump has threatened to banish from his political orbit any donors who continue to fund Haley.
Haley pledged to continue the campaign in South Carolina and beyond.
Shortly after Trump’s speech, Haley appeared at a rally in South Carolina. She said again that Trump has recently appeared “confused” and said that if he wants to take a cognitive test, he “should have no problem going up on the debate stage with me, because it’s the ultimate mental competency test for anyone running for president.”
Trump has refused to participate in any debates on Republican nominations and refuses to debate Haley.
In his speech in Nevada, Trump repeated a demeaning nickname for Haley, calling her “bird brain.” He also accused Haley – a conservative Republican – of being “almost a radical left-wing Democrat.”
Trump declared, “It’s time to end this,” referring to his nomination fight. He is leading Haley in opinion polls in South Carolina and she has no clear path to the nomination.
After Trump’s victory in the New Hampshire primary on January 23, Biden’s campaign released a statement saying, “It is now clear that Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee.”
Turning his attention to Biden, Trump focused much of his speech on the southern border.
Since Biden took office in 2021, record numbers of migrants have been caught illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, and opinion polls show immigration and the border are a top issue in the general election of this year.
Trump called the illegal crossing a “catastrophe,” an “invasion” and the southern border an “open wound.”
Meanwhile, Biden and his campaign aides have stepped up attacks on Trump in recent days, calling him a threat to American democracy and linking him to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to end federal abortion rights, an issue that she was accused of harming Republicans during the election campaign. 2022 midterm elections.