Nikki Haley renews attacks on ‘diminished’ and ‘unhinged’ Trump as she defends role in his administration

Nikki Haley is going all in on what she sees as the safest line of attack against Donald Trump — questions about his mental fitness and temperament in a year where the incumbent Democratic president is facing similar concerns.

The former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador sat down with NBC’s Craig Melvin for an interview with the Today show on Tuesday as she prepares for a showdown with Mr Trump in her home state that is a litte more than a week away. The primary election in South Carolina could be a jolt in the arm of her campaign as she continues to steeply trail the frontrunner — or, it could be the death knell of her presidential bid. It could also be neither of those things, as she plods along towards Super Tuesday in March.

Ms Haley made some of her most forceful criticism of Mr Trump’s mental state yet during the interview.

“The problem now is, he is not the same person he was in 2016. He is unhinged; he is more diminished than he was, just like Joe Biden’s more diminished than what he was,” Ms Haley told NBC.

“We have to see this for what it is,” she went on. “This is a fact: he is now saying things that don't make sense.”

She contrasted Mr Trump’s mood and temperament now with what she experienced during his administration, when the former UN diplomat said that Mr Trump was responsive when his deputy came to him with concerns. Two of those concerns she named directly: his response to a white nationalist riot in Charlottesville, Virginia, as well as his pattern of rhetoric about women.

“If something was wrong… I had a conversation with him about Charlottesville, I had a conversation about something that he would say about women, I had a conversation with him about multiple things,” said Ms Haley.

Ms Haley