Related: Donald Trump says he would encourage Russia to attack Nato allies who pay too little
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has attacked rival Donald Trump for disrespecting “all veterans” of the US military after he cruelly suggested her husband, Major Michael Haley, was absent from the campaign trail because he was embarrassed by his wife’s poor polling, rather than serving overseas.
“When Donald Trump attacks one veteran, he’s attacking all of them,” she told Jake Tapper on CNN on Monday evening.
“If he can’t understand the sacrifice our soldiers and veterans give for this country, then he doesn’t deserve to be commander-in-chief.”
She has also attacked Mr Trump on social media by listing some of his past remarks about America’s servicemen and women, reminding him that he had referred to soldiers as “suckers” and “losers” and once observed at Arlington Cemetery: “What as in it for them?”
Ahead of the all-important South Carolina primary on 24 February, Ms Haley has also blamed her competitor for the Republican Party’s disastrous recent run in Congress, which saw the House fail to impeach homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the state of illegal immigration at the US southern border and the collapse of a major funding bill last Tuesday.
Haley accuses Trump of ‘attacking all veterans’ by disrespecting her husband’s military service
Trump’s challenger for the Republican presidential nomination was interviewed by CNN’s Jake Tapper last night and continued to go after her rival for his absurd attack on her husband’s absence from the campaign trail (he’s serving overseas, something Trump never cared to).
She shrewdly extended her attack as part of a strategy to make it about the former president’s cynical disdain for “all veterans” and the US military generally.
Yesterday, she had this to say on the same subject, which is a cute line.
She has also been hitting back at him on social media, fighting the war on many fronts.
Kimmel reacts to Haley ripping off his ‘Mean Tweets’ segment
Jimmy Kimmel had a thing or two to say to Republican candidate Nikki Haley after she uploaded a video that looked very similar to the host’s own show segment “Mean Tweets”.
Amelia Neath was watching.
Trump says he saw migrant shoplifting a refrigerator ‘the other day’
Trump’s Nato remarks were not the only odd things he had to say this weekend, naturally.
On Friday, he addressed a crowd of supporters at the National Rifle Association’s Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he made several surprising comments, including how he saw a migrant stealing a refrigerator and claimed the state’s name would be changed if he isn’t re-elected president.
Michelle Del Rey offers this dispatch from the frontlines of insanity.
Biden says Israeli attack on Rafah should not take place without a ‘credible’ plan to protect civilians
President Joe Biden has said that Israel’s planned military operation against Hamas in the Gazan city of Rafah “should not proceed without a credible plan”.
On Monday the president said that such a plan would need to ensure “safety and support” for the more than one million civilians who’ve taken shelter there since Israel started its offensive against Hamas in the wake of the 7 October terror attacks.
Read the full story here:
Trump faces Nato comment backlash and calls on Taylor Swift to support him
Ahead of the looming South Carolina primary, Donald Trump called out for support from a powerful force in the political world – Taylor Swift.
The former president spent the Super Bowl weekend vainly courting support of pop superstar, while also dealing with fallout from attacks he made on “delinquent” military alliance members.
Catch up with The Independent’s coverage here:
Watch: Biden and Jordan’s King Abdullah hold press conference during state visit
Joe Biden and King Abdullah of Jordan spoke at a press conference following a meeting at the White House on Monday. The president held a meeting with the monarch in Washington, in which they were expected to discuss the ongoing effort to free hostages held in Gaza.
Watch it here:
Haley says Trump’s fingerprints all over recent Republican chaos
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has blamed rival Donald Trump for the GOP’s disastrous recent run in Congress, which saw the House fail to impeach homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the state of illegal immigration at the US southern border and the collapse of a major funding bill last Tuesday.
“Republicans had a really bad day,” Haley told a crowd in Newberry, South Carolina, while campaigning on Saturday afternoon ahead of her home state’s primary on 24 February.
Also citing an appeals court finding that Trump was not immune to prosecution last week and the news that Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel could be forced out on his say so, the candidate said: “The reality is chaos follows him. On that day of all those losses, he had his fingerprints all over it.”
“What is happening?” Haley asked. “We can’t be a country in disarray and a world on fire and go through four more years of chaos. We won’t survive it.”
Trump claims it would be ‘disloyal’ if Taylor Swift endorses Biden
Hours before Sunday’s Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers, Donald Trump made one last, desperate appeal for the political support of pop superstar Taylor Swift, knowing she was flying in to watch her boyfriend Travis Kelce in action and would dominate coverage of the big game.
“I signed and was responsible for the Music Modernization Act for Taylor Swift and all other Musical Artists,” the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination wrote on Truth Social.
So what is the Music Modernization Act? Joe Sommerlad explains: