Following her third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses on Monday, an old tweet from Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley could come back to vex her campaign.
In the resurfaced tweet posted on April 6, 2020, Haley cheered Bill Gates for putting up some of his billions to fund the production of COVID vaccines.
“Thank you [Bill Gates] for donating billions of dollars to construct factories that will manufacture the seven most promising vaccines,” the former South Carolina governor posted. “This will keep us from losing any time as potential vaccines move through the clinical trial process.”
Thank you @BillGates for donating billions of dollars to construct factories that will manufacture the seven most promising vaccines. This will keep us from losing any time as potential vaccines move through the clinical trial process. 🇺🇸@standamericanow https://t.co/CAOqq9IUy0
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) April 6, 2020
Many conservatives, Donald Trump supporters, and detractors of the former UN ambassador blasted Haley for her praise of the man who is often seen as a villain by those on the right.
Comedienne Roseanne Barr, for one, jumped on her X account on Tuesday to laugh at Haley, especially in light of her blowout loss to Trump in Iowa.
https://t.co/ynz79bq2kA pic.twitter.com/G8JWX4Gp9N
— Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) January 17, 2024
TV personality Mindy Robinson called Haley a “Deep State war pig.”
Everyone knows you’re a Deep State war pig, drop the hell out already Nikki Haley (which isn’t even your real name.)
— Mindy Robinson 🇺🇸 (@iheartmindy) January 17, 2024
Another X user reminded her followers that Gates wanted to have governments hand out vaccine passports to prevent unvaccinated people from traveling.
Never forget what Bill Gates wants and anyone that supports him.👇https://t.co/WC6GXMmjK8
— Sally (@TalkWithSally) January 17, 2024
Many others piled onto Haley’s 2020 tweet.
— Joseph Michael (@ma5660) January 17, 2024
It’s literally the worst post ever made on @X
Nikki Haley is bought and paid for.
— Spence ☕️ (@tspencer322) January 17, 2024
If you follow the money, Nikki’s post ought to be a key piece of information for you in deciding “Who are you for in 2024?”
— Jackie Ritacco (@jaritacco) January 17, 2024
Haley also took heat in the aftermath of Monday’s caucuses for telling her supporters that “Iowa made this Republican primary a two-person race,” even though she came in third.
Trump was by far the top choice of Iowa Republican caucus-goers. He won by nearly 30 points with 51 percent of the vote, giving him the biggest margin of victory in caucus history.
In second place was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who beat prognostications by winning 21.2 percent of the vote. Haley, meanwhile, won 19.1 percent.
The results also drove candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who came in fourth, to suspend his campaign. He then immediately endorsed Trump.
