Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley took a victory lap against CNN anchor Don Lemon following their short back and forth over the host’s comments that the 2024 presidential candidate was past her prime.
“The Liberals’ heads explode at the thought of me getting into the race. What I said was, ‘if you think I’m past my prime, hold my beer.’ We started selling koozies on NikkiHaley.com, and I think we turn lemons into lemonade, and I’ll keep doing this,” Haley said on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures.
‘I’VE HEARD YOU’: DON LEMON APOLOGIZES FOR NIKKI HALEY COMMENTS AS HE RETURNS TO CNN
Shortly after Haley, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina governor, announced her 2024 campaign earlier this month, Lemon harped on a policy proposal she had for aspiring candidates over the age of 75 to submit to cognitive tests.
“Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime, sorry,” Lemon, 56, contended at the time. “If you Google, ‘when is a woman in her prime,’ it’ll say 20s, 30s, and 40s.”
Haley, 51, quickly seized on his remarks by selling koozies emblazoned with the words, “Past My Prime? Hold My Beer.” Lemon was then absent from the show for several days after his remarks and apologized before returning to air last week.
Host Maria Bartiromo pressed Haley about whether Lemon apologized to her, but the 2024 candidate didn’t answer the question.
A cacophony of progressives, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), decried Haley’s policy proposal as ageism. Haley’s call for a cognitive test was an apparent dig at President Joe Biden, 80, the oldest president in United States history.
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Former President Donald Trump, 76, has welcomed and backed the suggestion, arguing that aging politicians should demonstrate their physical preparedness to run the country.
Haley is currently trailing behind Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), ringing in fourth place behind former Vice President Mike Pence, in the latest RealClearPolitics polling aggregate, though some polls have shown her moving up the ladder to third place.
