MAGA Attack on Nikki Haley Has One Major Flaw

Republican primary candidate Nikki Haley has been mocked for canceling an event in Iowa, with MAGA supporters claiming she did so over a lack of attendees.

The former South Carolina Governor, who has been rising in the polls, was due to appear in Sioux City, Iowa, ahead of the primary season, which begins with the state's caucuses on January 15. The polls will help decide who contests the 2024 election on behalf of the Republican party.

Haley cancelled the event due to snow and cited "travel difficulties", The New York Times reported.

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued warnings for parts of 14 states including Iowa on Monday and warned of difficult travel conditions and whiteout conditions in places. Up to 11 inches of snow and winds up to 40 miles an hour are expected by Tuesday afternoon.

Haley appeared in a Fox News town hall in the evening but MAGA figures on X, formerly Twitter, alleged the former UN ambassador cancelled her initial event because people did not come to it. They circulated an edited MSNBC report about the cancelled event which said it had been abandoned minutes before it was due to begin.

Newsweek contacted representatives for Haley by email to comment on this story.

X user Johnny MAGA wrote: "Nikki Haley had to cancel an event in Iowa this morning because nobody showed up lol."

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk also shared the clip and said: "The Nikki Haley 'surge' is an astroturfed mirage."

Meanwhile, fellow GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy acknowledged the snow caused difficulties. However, he claimed Haley cancelled her event to "avoid embarrassment," and said he would not cancel his scheduled events because of the weather.

He delegated one of his five events scheduled for Monday to his wife, Apoorva, The New York Times reported.

Haley was not the only politician affected by weather conditions this week. Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her father, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee also cancelled two events on behalf of Donald Trump's campaign in Iowa Monday.

Actor Roseanne Barr also withdrew from a Trump campaign event scheduled in Boone for Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the scheduled events come at the cusp of the primary season, with former President Trump enjoying a comfortable lead in the polls. According to polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight, he has 61.8 percent of the vote share while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is second with 12.1 percent. He is closely followed by Haley, who has 11.2 percent of the vote. Ramaswamy has 4.8 percent of the vote share.

In New Hampshire, according to a CNN poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire, Haley is only behind Trump in the state by 7 percent, with 32 percent backing her to the 39 percent who back Trump.