Nikki Haley: I ‘Showed a Lot of Restraint’ in Calling Ramaswamy ‘Scum’
“My daughter’s 25 years old, we’ve got big issues happening in the world,” she said the morning after the debate.

Mike Segar/Reuters
Nikki Haley thinks she could’ve gone even harder on Vivek Ramaswamy after she branded him “scum” Wednesday night during the third Republican presidential primary debate. “That was showing a lot of restraint, that’s all I’ll say,” she said on Fox News on Thursday morning. During a heated exchange about whether to ban TikTok, Ramaswamy, who is pro-TikTok, called out Haley, who wants to ban TikTok, for ridiculing his use of the platform when her own daughter uses it. “So you might want to take care of your family first,” he said, prompting Haley to explode. “Leave my daughter out of your voice,” she fumed, later adding, “You’re just scum.” On Thursday morning, she told Fox: “My daughter’s 25 years old, we’ve got big issues happening in the world... this is not the time that you need to have, you know, these personal hits.” She called the potshot unnecessary and argued it “says more about him than it does about me.”
Nikki Haley is asked about calling Vivek Ramaswamy “scum” for mentioning her daughter at the GOP debate.
— The Recount (@therecount) November 9, 2023
Fox News' Bill Hemmer: “Do you want to continue with that today? Do you feel the same way?”
Haley: “I mean ... That was showing a lot of restraint. That’s all I’ll say.” pic.twitter.com/MOQ9lNSAeQ
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