‘Pretty Pathetic’: Nikki Haley Fires Back At ‘Childish’ Vivek Ramaswamy After He Mocks Her Indian Maiden Name

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley characterized rival Vivek Ramaswamy’s attempt to mock her given Indian name as “pretty pathetic” in an appearance on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom on Tuesday.

On Monday, Ramaswamy unveiled a new section of his campaign website devoted to disabusing the public about supposed mistruths about his background and views. In it, the candidate objected to Haley’s characterization of his view of the U.S.-Israel relationship with the lede, “Keep lying, Namrata [sic] Randhawa.”

Haley’s maiden name is Randhawa, while her given first name is Nimarata. She has gone by Nikki, her Punjabi middle name, since she was a child. That choice has frequently made her the target of progressive critics who have accused her of hiding her heritage, despite the starring role it played in her presidential campaign announcement.

On Fox, Haley dismissed the stunt after being asked for her reaction by Fox’s Sandra Smith.

“I mean, I’m not gonna get involved in these childish name games, it’s pretty pathetic,” began Haley.

She continued:

First of all, I was born with Nikki on my birth certificate, I was raised as Nikki, I married a Haley, and so that is what my name is so he can say or misspell or do whatever he wants, but he can’t step away from the fact that, look, he’s the one that said he’s gonna abandon Israel. Those were his words. Now he’s wanting to walk it back and the reality is, you have to understand the importance of our allies and those relationships.

We can never be so narcissistic to think that we don’t need friends. It’s not that Israel needs America, America needs Israel too. But Israel faces genocidal threats from Hamas, from Hezbollah, from Iran, from Syria. You need a president that understands that, that understands that Iran — Israel is the front line of defense when it comes to dealing with Islamic terrorism and Iran and he just doesn’t get it. So I mean look: I think you can tell a lot about the kind of leader someone will be based on how they run their campaign and he’s doing that all on his own.

Ramaswamy has repeatedly insisted that at present, the U.S.-Israel alliance is “just a client relationship” and said that he would turn it into a “true friendship.”

Watch above via Fox News.

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