Trump ally Ralph Norman SUPPORT Nikki Haley calling her ‘America’s version of Margaret Thatcher’

South Carolina GOP Representative Ralph Norman came fully behind Nikki Haley the day she announced her candidacy for president, considering her America’s Margaret Thatcher.

“Nikki will be a leader with an iron fist in a velvet glove,” Norman, a Trump ally, said when introducing the former ambassador and governor at a launch event in South Carolina. “I believe Nikki Haley is the American version of Margaret Thatcher.”

Thatcher was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and was known as the ‘Iron Lady’.

Norman is a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus and one of 20 defectors from Kevin McCarthy’s speakership. He is the first and to date only member of Congress to formally endorse Haley’s bid to run against Donald Trump in the 2024 primary.

“We are at a turning point in our country. While the Republican candidates, values ​​and messages have done very well here in South Carolina, that hasn’t been the case everywhere in our great country,” Norman wrote on Twitter ahead of his public address.

“It’s time for a reset and a new chapter in national Republican politics, and there’s no better person to help write that new chapter than our former governor and my dear friend, Nikki Haley!” Norman said.

Norman eventually offered McCarthy his vote after the California Republican made some concessions to hardliners. Norman had urged the House to pass a balanced federal budget.

A longtime supporter of Trump, the congressman voted against certifying the results of the 2020 election results on January 6, 2021.

Text messages revealed by Talking Points Memo show that on January 17, 2021, Norman sent then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows a text urging Trump to appeal to “Marshall [sic] law’ to investigate allegations of electoral fraud.

Norman told Fox News that Trump was “exactly who the Republican Party needed at the time” in 2016, but “the Republican Party has entered a season of change.”

Haley, 51, took some veiled swipes at her Washington detractors and doubters and their age.

“We will not win the battle for the 21st century if we continue to trust 20th century politicians,” she told a crowd of supporters in Charleston, South Carolina.

“America is not over its prime, it’s just its politicians that are over theirs,” she said at another time.

She also promised the crowd that she would work to get rid of earmarks, establish term limits in Congress, and require mental competence tests for every lawmaker over 75. Congress, of course, would have to vote to limit itself in this way.

Haley, 51, took some veiled swipes at her Washington detractors and doubters and their age

“We will not win the battle for the 21st century if we continue to trust 20th century politicians,” she told a crowd of supporters in Charleston, South Carolina.

Longtime supporter of Trump, Norman voted against certifying the results of the 2020 election results on January 6, 2021

While Norman is the only congressman to date to formally endorse Haley, GOP Rep. Nancy Mace high praise for the former ambassador who lives in her district.

Asked by CNN if she would support Haley, Mace said, “Looks like I may or may not have several South Carolina voters up for grabs.”

“But I’ll tell you this, Nikki Haley is a really good friend of mine, she’s a mentor, she works harder than anyone.”

Mace noted that Haley was the biggest name in politics to stand up for her when Trump tried to turn a candidate against her in a primary.

“I want to see how the field shakes, how it’s set up, but I’ll tell you I have great love for her and I’m excited to see her compete.”

Haley previously said she wouldn’t throw her hat in the ring if Trump ran. She now returns to that statement.

“I told her a year ago that I hoped she would run no matter what,” Mace said. “She’s more than qualified for the job.”