Michael Haley came to the defense of his wife on X (formerly Twitter) with the use of a meme. I was wondering how long it would take for him to respond to Donald Trump's attack on him.

 Maj. Michael Haley is busy these days, what with being deployed in Djibouti and all. Trump likes to insult Haley's intelligence by calling her a birdbrain. He criticized her dress on the night of the New Hampshire primary. Trump briefly tried to go birther against Haley but that didn't last long. During a campaign event last weekend, Trump took the personal insults further to include her husband. 

Trump on Haley: Where's her husband? Oh, he's away. He's away! What happened to her husband? What happened to her husband. Where is he? He's gone. pic.twitter.com/EeifanSxiF

— Acyn (@Acyn) February 10, 2024

“Where’s her husband? Oh, he’s away,” Trump said, with a wry smile, in a video captured of the rally. “He’s gone.”

What is Trump insinuating? Does he want to pretend that Michael Haley does not support his wife's run for president? I guess she could do the same to Trump. Melania isn't on the campaign trail with him. This was said during Trump's first rally in South Carolina this year. The South Carolina primary is next week.

Trump is up over 30 points in the polls in the South Carolina primary. Nikki Haley, a two-term governor, will lose her home state. Trump is aggravated that Haley won't bow out and let Trump be coronated. Trump is going to have to go through the primary process just like everyone else. If he has an opponent who can last a while, them's the breaks. 

Haley responded. 

Nikki Haley responds to Trump’s attack on her husband, Michael Haley: “If you mock the service of a combat veteran, you don't deserve a driver's license, let alone being President of the United States.” pic.twitter.com/ZirflM9pKu

— Dylan Wells (@dylanewells) February 10, 2024

Michael Haley posted a tweet, too. He used a meme and it was a little cryptic. He tagged major media outlets in order to get plenty of exposure. 

@realDonaldTrump @GOP @CNN @FoxNews @wsjournal @USATODAY @nytimes @AP pic.twitter.com/BS6uODv6kr

— Michael Haley (@WMichaelHaley) February 10, 2024

Not too shabby. It went viral. It has over 5M views. 

For a long time, Haley didn't go after Trump in her stump speeches. It stopped just before the Iowa caucuses when she began to catch fire. The more she rose in the polls, the more tense it became between Trump and Haley. Now that it is a two-person race, the gloves are off. We all know what Trump does - he insults his opponents. He did it in 2015 and he's doing it now. He gave Ron DeSantis a lame nickname even before DeSantis officially announced his candidacy. He turned Asa Hutchinson's name into a female version. He called Chris Christie fat. It's what he does. 

She is more aggressive now that it is a two-person race.

Nevertheless, Haley has adopted a more aggressive posture toward Trump now that the competition is down to two people. She has incorporated digs at Trump over his age, temper and mental acuity since losing to him in New Hampshire.

Bardella, the Republican-turned-Democrat, chalked it up to Haley having nothing left to lose. Earlier in the year, there was speculation she could be in his Cabinet again, possibly as vice president. The former president’s allies and supporters quickly quashed that notion, and Trump himself ruled out having Haley on his ticket.

We'll see how long Haley hangs in there. I don't think she'll quit until after Super Tuesday next month. Maybe she'll hold out until Indiana as Ted Cruz did in 2016. It will be however long the Koch money flows.