‘Bird Brain’ and ‘Overrated’ – Trump Lays Into Republican Rivals Seeking GOP Presidential Nomination

William FurneyNov 1, 2023

Minute Read

Donald Trump has viciously attacked his two closest rivals – although he has a massive lead over them – as he seeks to become the GOP candidate in the 2024 presidential election and return to the White House.

‘Bird Brain’ Haley

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Speaking at a rally in Sioux City, Iowa – which he initially called Sioux Falls, a city in neighboring South Dakota, leading to boos from the crowd – Trump called opponent Nikki Haley a “bird brain.”

‘Highly Overrated’

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Trump continued in his attack on Haley, 51, a former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador during Trump’s term at the White House, saying: “She’s a real highly overrated person.”

DeSantis ‘Even Worse’

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The former president, using his denigratory nickname for GOP nomination contender Ron DeSantis, said the governor of Florida was worse than Haley. “But DeSanctimonious is really overrated… I think it’s got to be one of the worst campaigns in history.”

DeSantis’ Campaign Implosion

DeSantis’ campaign to secure the Republican Party nomination for the 2024 presidential election faltered soon after it launched. The 45-year-old fell out of favor with voters after a series of missteps that sent his national and state polling from double-digit to almost single.

DeSantis’ Flip-Flop on Ethanol

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Trump blasted DeSantis for flip-flopping on the issue of ethanol in Iowa, as it’s used in blends of diesel and gasoline. DeSantis had opposed subsidies for ethanol, while a House representative for Florida now supports such a measure, Trump pointed out.

DeSantis ‘Not Trustworthy’

Trump suggested the Florida governor should not be trusted by voters.

“One thing about a politician: If they’re against something and then they come out (for it) because you’re in the middle of an election, they always go to where they first came from. That means if he’s against ethanol then that means he’s against ethanol. He will kill ethanol.”

Trump the Leading Candidate

Trump leads the Republican nomination field by a large margin, with an average of primary polls giving the 77-year-old 57.1 percent compared to 13.9 percent for DeSantis and 7.9 percent for Haley, according to polling site FiveThirtyEight.

Legal Problems Not a Barrier

Trump’s many legal problems have not dented his popularity among Republican voters, as he continues to maintain his wide polling lead despite having been indicted four times and facing a total of 91 criminal charges.

The Indictments

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Trump is accused – at federal and state level, in Georgia – of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden and prevent the peaceful transfer of presidential power. He’s also accused of improperly handling classified government documents, allegedly removing them from the White House when his term ended and storing them in various rooms at his Mar-a-Lago resort home.

Additionally, Trump is in court in New York, fighting charges that he, family members and executives at the Trump Organisation committed years of fraud. He denies all the charges and has pleaded not guilty to the indictments.

Trump Eligibility Cases

Courts are this week hearing arguments from liberal groups, who want to stop Trump becoming president again, that he is not eligible to run for the White House because of the insurrection clause in the Constitution. They claim he broke his oath of office over the events surrounding the 2020 election, particularly rioting at the US Capitol in which five people died. Trump’s legal team says the clause does not apply to the president, so the cases should be thrown out.

Other Contenders

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Trailing behind Haley is businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, with 6.1 percent of Republican voter preferences, followed by former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who has just 3.3 percent. The vice president under Trump, Mike Pence, has ended his campaign over a lack of support.

Confident of Iowa Win

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Trump also said he was confident of winning the Republican caucuses in the state in January, particularly due to his financial support for the state’s farmers when he was president.

Got Iowa Farmers ‘Billions From China’

He told the crowd: “I got Iowa and the farm states, Nebraska, Wisconsin and others… I got, I got farmers $28 billion from China. I said there’s no way Iowa is going to be against Trump.”

A Trump Apology

Trump told attendees he needed to apologize for assuming he would win Iowa. “I was quite disrespectful to Iowa – I’d like to apologize because I go around saying, ‘Of course we’re going to win Iowa,’ and people say, ‘You cannot assume that.’”