Two Days Until New Hampshire: Haley Goes for Broke, Trump's Mental Fitness In Question

The Briefing with Jen Psaki

NBC News

News, Politics

4.5 • 664 Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2024

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jen Psaki takes the show on the road to New Hampshire, just days before the state holds the first in the nation primary. It's a critical test for presidential hopeful Nikki Haley, who began questioning Donald Trump's mental fitness for the job after Trump confused her with Nancy Pelosi. Jen is joined Mark Leibovich of the Atlantic and Republican strategist Lanhee Chen, as well as NBC's Dasha Burns and Ali Vitali, to break down what’s happening on the ground in the home stretch to election day. Later, MSNBC legal analysts Lisa Rubin and Andrew Weissmann join Jen to discuss what comes next in the Trump defamation trial filed by E. Jean Carroll as well as Trump's far-fetched claim that presidents should be above the law, which has become his campaign message. Representative Ro Khanna also discusses Nikki Haley's assertion that the United States has never been a racist country, despite Trump's racist attacks on her, and NBC's Mike Memoli talks about the write-in campaign for President Biden, whose name won't be on the ballot in New Hampshire's Democratic primary.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Okay, here we go.
0:12.0	We are live from Manchester, New Hampshire, ahead of the most consequential night in this political season to date.
0:18.0	We have lots of students here with us in the studio, which is exciting. We've got
0:22.6	lots of guests coming by over the course of the next hour, and we have so much to talk about.
0:27.8	Because we are at a bit of a crossroads here in New Hampshire. They're kind of too past that
0:32.9	these next two days could open up. If Donald Trump wins convincingly on Tuesday, then this thing is all but over.
0:40.8	And you don't exactly have to stretch your imagination to picture that happening. I mean,
0:45.2	he's currently leading Nikki Haley by 19 points in the latest New Hampshire tracking pool.
0:50.4	And remember, this is the state that is supposed to be the friendliest terrain for a Trump alternative.
0:56.5	Live free or die, independent-minded people.
0:59.2	The friendliest terrain also for Nikki Haley.
1:02.1	So again, if Trump does win big on Tuesday, the Republican primary race would more or less come to a close.
1:08.9	And Trump knows that, which is why he's been working overtime to lock
1:12.8	in endorsements and make a rematch with President Joe Biden start to look inevitable. At a rally
1:19.1	here just last night, Trump lined the stage with South Carolina state leaders, a clear
1:24.7	show of force of his support in Haley's home state, a state that is coming
1:27.9	up in just a couple of weeks. But politics can also bring surprises, and the people of New
1:33.7	Hampshire have a history of keeping things interesting, keeping us all on our toes. So Tuesday
1:38.6	could also give us something different. It's possible. Nikki Haley could win here or she can even come closer than expected.
1:46.2	And however briefly, and it may be brief, very brief, she could make Trump's nomination
1:50.9	seem a tiny bit less inevitable. But her window of opportunity in this race is closing rapidly.
1:58.0	And the days following the Iowa caucus, to me at least, it felt a little bit like she
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