(Headline USA) Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley poked fun at herself over a campaign misstep during a Saturday Night Live appearance, but her primary target was GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump.
Haley joined the long-running comedy show’s leftist cast in an opening skit Saturday mocking the former president over his refusal to debate GOP primary rivals and questioning his mental fitness.
“I see dead people.” That’s exactly what voters will think if this race is between Trump and Biden in the fall.
Had a blast tonight on SNL! Know it was past Donald’s bedtime so looking forward to the stream of unhinged tweets in the a.m. pic.twitter.com/W43LlPOoi2
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) February 4, 2024
“Had a blast tonight on SNL!” she tweeted early Sunday. Know it was past Donald’s bedtime so looking forward to the stream of unhinged tweets in the a.m.”
The segment featured a faux CNN town hall with Trump in Columbia, South Carolina, which holds the next GOP nominating contest on Feb. 24.
SNL‘s Kenan Thompson and Punkie Johnson portrayed hosts Charles Barkley and Gayle King, respectively, and James Austin Johnson was Trump—a role he assumed in 2021 following the departure of accused killer Alec Baldwin.
Haley, a former South Carolina governor, portrayed an audience member who was introduced as “someone who describes herself as a concerned South Carolina voter” when called upon to question the candidate.
“My question is, ‘Why won’t you debate Nikki Haley?’” she said.
“Oh my God, it’s her, the woman who was in charge of security on Jan. 6. It’s Nancy Pelosi,” Johnson’s Trump responded.
During a campaign speech in New Hampshire last month, Trump seemed to confuse Haley, who was his U.N. ambassador, with Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the former House speaker, asserting that Haley was in charge of security at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Some have argued that Trump outwitted the leftist media, forcing them to acknowledge that Pelosi was responsible for the breach of the Capitol in their efforts to correct his misstatement.
After the town hall moderators corrected the stand-in Trump, Haley asked, “Are you doing OK, Donald? You might need a mental competency test.”
Johnson’s Trump told Haley: “You know what I did. I took the test and I aced it, OK? Perfect score. They said I’m 100% mental.”
The final question in the skit came from SNL host Ayo Edebiri, portraying another audience member, who questioned Haley about the root cause of the American Civil War.
The candidate, during a town hall in December in New Hampshire, was asked about the reason for the war, and she did not mention slavery in her response. She walked back her comments hours later.
“I was just curious, what would you say was the main cause of the Civil War?” Edebiri asked Haley during the show. “Do you think it starts with an ‘S’ and ends with a ‘lavery’?”
Haley replied: “Yep, I probably should have said that the first time,” before saying, “And live from New York, it’s ‘Saturday Night.’
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
