‘It’s so good to be home’: Haley brings campaign to Bamberg

BAMBERG, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT)- With two weeks to go before the South Carolina Republican primary, Nikki Haley is challenging Donald Trump on her home turf – including her hometown of Bamberg.

She spoke at Bamberg Veterans Park on Tuesday morning as part of her statewide bus tour leading up to the Feb. 24 primary.

“It’s so good to be home,” she said. “It’s a great day in South Carolina when I can come home.”

Later, she noted: “So much of what I am is what I learned growing up in this town.”

The tour is part of what may be the former governor and U.N. ambassador’s last stand as the final major GOP opposition to Trump.

Main Street is still closed as a result of the EF-2 tornado that swept through town a month ago, but her speech was in view of the damage.

The site of a historic brick building that collapsed in the tornado was the backdrop for much of her speech.

Susan Collins is a er of Haley. At the rally, she said: “I was wondering if she was going to come to her hometown after the devastation with the tornado. She made it a point to come here, to see all that’s going on in Bamberg and show that she still has a heart for our community.”

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She spoke about the tornado, saying that she and her siblings were texting images and news to each other as the damage unfolded.

“This little town has been through so much,” she said.

But she says she knows Bamberg will come out on top after the storm damaged 20 to 30 businesses and 20 homes.

“This little sweet town is the town that raised me,” she said. “This is the town that taught me strength, this is the town that taught me grace, this is the town that taught me faith and this is the town that taught me no matter what, neighbors take care of neighbors.”

She continued:

“I know that this is a tough time and I know there is some more healing that needs to be done and I know that people have suffered. But I know that if there’s any town that can get through it, it’s Bamberg.”

She cited strides that have been made in her hometown, like establishing an after-school program that has given students the confidence to excel.

“Growing up in this little town, we didn’t know what we didn’t have,” she said.

“But we knew that we could be anything if we just worked hard enough,” she added, saying that efforts like the after-school program help keep those values alive.

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She cited statewide accomplishments, like cutting the unemployment rate while she was governor of South Carolina and ing what she called the toughest immigration law in the country, as well as being named the friendliest state and now the No. 2 place where people are moving.

Turning her focus to the race she’s in, she noted that when she launched her campaign, there were a dozen people in the Republican race for the presidential nomination, but now it’s between her and Trump.

Marti Leib, who traveled to Bamberg from Florida, said: “She’s the one that’s going to be elected president. She’s got the nurturing intuition of a woman that’s going to have to start addressing the family and family life issues that we really have to address in our society today.”

Haley took aim at her opponent’s temperament.

After she got 43% of vote in the New Hampshire primary, “that night, Donald Trump completely was unhinged,” she said.

“He had a little temper tantrum and all he did was talk about revenge,” she said.

She said Trump mainly talks about himself, especially portraying himself as a victim, and doesn’t talk about real problems.

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She claimed the majority of Americans disapprove of President Joe Biden, but the majority also disapprove of Trump – presenting herself as an alternative.

She noted that Trump hasn’t served in the military and said he doesn’t speak well of those who do.

“He sat there and mocked my husband Michael’s military service,” she said.

Trump recently questioned why Haley’s husband, who is deployed on a yearlong stint in Africa with the South Carolina Army National Guard, hasn’t been on the campaign trail.

“What bothered me is if you mock one person in the military, you’re mocking everybody in the military,” she said.

“They do this because they really do believe in our country.”

The former U.N. ambassador also slammed recent comments from Trump about NATO.

Trump suggested in recent days that America shouldn’t protect NATO allies that don’t meet their military spending goals. Instead, Trump said he’d urge Russia “to do whatever the hell they want.”

“NATO is a 75-year success story,” Haley said, pointing out that Russia has never attacked a member since it was formed.

She said it’s unbelievable that anyone would put the alliance in danger and would say anything ive of Russian ruler Vladimir Putin.

“Someone who wants to president of the United States is siding with that thug instead of the people who were with us after 9/11 – it doesn’t make sense,” she said.

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She noted that the country is $34 trillion in debt and said she’d like to say it was Biden’s fault but that “our Republicans did that to us.”

She cited the huge cost of the COVID stimulus bill, for which she said there was no ability.

She said Republicans didn’t step forward and instead “doubled down,” opening up spending for earmarks and pet projects for the first time in 10 years.

All this, she said, while:

1 in 6 American families can’t pay their utility bills.
60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.
15% of families can’t afford diapers.

“Don’t you think it’s finally time we have an ant in the White House?” she said.

As part of her solution, she suggested pulling back the $100 million in unspent COVID money and having IRS agents go after COVID fraud.

She said the country needs to quit borrowing and instead balance the budget.

She said when she was governor, she had to do that, so Congress should, too.

“They have one job and that’s to give us a budget on time. Do you know Congress has only given us a budget on time four times in 40 years?” she said.

Her solution: “You don’t give us a budget on time, you don’t get paid.”

Leib said: “I think we finally have the right person to bring America back to where it used to be. I want that kind of America back for my son and his children. I want that kind of America back for all children.”

She said she’d want to send as many federal programs as possible down to the state level.

“I’ll veto any spending bill that doesn’t take us back to pre-COVID levels,” she said. “That will save us trillions.”

And she said she wants to “open up the middle class,” ing these Americans by cutting taxes on the middle class and simplifying their tax brackets.

She also wants to nurture small businesses.

“I learned in this town, small businesses are the heartbeat of our economy,” she said. “Don’t just say it; act like it.”

Collins said: “She’s not going to always do what everybody wants, but I really do feel like she has a good, sincere heart and that matters to me a lot to know that somebody cares and I really do feel like she cares for the people.”

Haley also said the border needs to be tightened by:

Implementing a national program for employers to that every new hire is in the country legally.
Defunding sanctuary cities.
Putting 25,000 Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on the ground.
Deporting illegal immigrants who are caught instead of releasing them after giving them a court date.