Nikki Haley uses ‘SNL’ appearance to mock Civil War gaffe

WASHINGTON – Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley poked fun at herself for her campaign misstep, but her main target on “Saturday Night Live” was Donald Trump, who appeared in a skit mocking the former president’s proxy for his rejection of the campaign. she argued with him and questioned his mental health.

“I had so much fun on SNL tonight! Haley shared a post on X (formerly Twitter) early Sunday.

The segment is a mock CNN town hall featuring Trump in Columbia, South Carolina, which will hold its next nominating contest on February 24. “SNL’s” Kenan Thompson and Punkie Johnson host Charles Barkley and Gayle King, respectively, while James Austin Johnson hosts. Embers.

Haley, a former South Carolina governor, is an audience member who is introduced as “someone who describes herself as a concerned South Carolina voter” when asked to question the candidate.

“My question is: Why don’t you argue with Nikki Haley?” he asks.

Trump, a frontrunner in the nomination race, has avoided all controversy so far in the campaign, and Haley is his last major rival.

“Oh my God, that’s her, the woman who was in charge of security on January 6th. That’s Nancy Pelosi,” the actor responds.

During his campaign speech in New Hampshire last month, Trump appeared to repeatedly confuse Haley, the U.N. ambassador, with Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the former speaker of the House of Representatives. When Trump supporters stormed the building on January 6, 2021, Trump falsely claimed that Haley was responsible for the security of the Capitol.

The U.S. Capitol Police, along with the sergeants-at-arms of the House and Senate, are responsible for security on the Capitol grounds and protecting Congress. Trump accused Pelosi of turning down the security her administration offered, but a special House committee investigating the siege found no evidence to support that claim.

After town hall moderators correct surrogate Trump, Haley asks: “Are you okay, Donald? You might need a mental competency test.”

Trump has boasted in the past about “doing” on cognitive tests, and Johnson’s Trump told Haley: “You know what I did. I took the exam and I passed, okay? Perfect score. “They said I was 100% mental.”

The final question in the skit comes from audience member “SNL” host Ayo Edebiri, who stars in Hulu’s “The Bear.” He questions Haley, now called Ambassador Haley, about the root cause of the American Civil War. At a town hall in New Hampshire in December, the candidate was asked about the cause of the war, and he did not mention slavery in his answer. She returned to her comments hours later.

“Just curious, what do you think was the root cause of the Civil War?” Edebiri asked Haley during the show. “Do you think it starts with ‘S’ and ends with ‘lavery’?”

Haley replied: “Yeah, I probably should have said that the first time.” She then said: “And we’re live from New York, it’s ‘Saturday Night.’