Donald Trump Rages at Nikki Haley's Success

Former President Donald Trump is lashing out after an influential Republican donor network endorsed former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley in the race for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

Trump lamented that Americans for Prosperity Action (AFP Action), a conservative political advocacy group affiliated with billionaire brothers Charles Koch and the late David Koch, who died in 2019, was backing Haley over him in a Truth Social post on Wednesday.

AFP Action said in a release Tuesday that Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, was "in the best position to defeat Donald Trump in the primaries" and had "what it takes to lead a policy agenda to take on our nation's biggest challenges."

On Wednesday, the ex-president boasted about his commanding lead in GOP primary polls and mocked Haley by calling her "Birdbrain," while arguing that the endorsement was a "minor hit" to the presidential ambitions of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, to whom he often refers as "Ron DeSanctimonious."

"The Globalist Koch Fake 'Network,' Americans for China Prosperity, who constantly admit that they did better in Business under President Trump than EVER BEFORE, have decided to back Nikki 'Birdbrain' Haley over Ron DeSanctimonious, a minor hit for Ron," Trump wrote.

"I was never in the running because I'm all about Making America, not the outside World, Great Again!" he added. "These losers have fought me from 2016 to the present. They are bad for our Country, and so is a very weak and ineffective Birdbrain, who still says that 'President Trump was a GREAT President, I will never run against him.' She's down 50 Points, she better start running FAST!"

Newsweek reached out for comment to AFP Action and the Haley campaign via email on Wednesday.

While AFP Action did not endorse any candidate during the last two presidential elections and never previously supported Trump, the Haley endorsement is the organization's first major action in explicit opposition to the former president.

Just before endorsing Haley, AFP Action mailed supporters a leaflet urging them to defeat President Joe Biden in 2024 "by letting go of Trump," arguing that Republicans need "a new leader, an electable leader, who can defeat Joe Biden and return this nation to prosperity."

Haley is still trailing Trump by over 50 points in most national GOP primary polls but recent surveys have shown her ahead of DeSantis and in second place in certain states, such as New Hampshire and Ohio. Several general election polls also suggest that Haley represents a greater threat to Biden than Trump.

Andrew Stein, ex-Democratic New York lawmaker and former longtime ally of Trump who supported him in the 2016 and 2020 elections, also endorsed Haley over the ex-president last month.

Stein argued that Haley would "likely to have a broader appeal than Mr. Trump for independents and suburbanites, especially women," while pointing out that the former president is facing four criminal cases that could land him in prison.

"If Mr. Trump is found guilty of some of the charges against him, voters would have to choose between an old felon and an old fool," Stein said.

Additionally, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon urged support for Haley "even if you're a very liberal Democrat" during a conference on Wednesday, arguing that she "might be better than" Trump, according to NBC News.