Nikki Haley Threw Southern Shade At Donald Trump

No one throws shade with the grace and charm that a Southern lady can. And for the ultimate proof, look no further than Nikki Haley's Twitter rebuff of Donald Trump. Trump (or whoever runs Trump's ridiculous Twitter account) made time in the midst of Super Tuesday campaigning to hurl one of his trademark insults, one that was simultaneously bombastic and lacking in both sense and relevance. After retweeting members of his staff who referred to Haley as "a liability for Rubio," the Donald decided to add his own voice to the Twitter fray: "The people of South Carolina are embarrassed by Nikki Haley!"

However, instead of getting down in the mud with Trump, the South Carolina governor responded with a seemingly tactful but potently dismissive "Bless your heart. The short reply that was all sweetness on the surface but sharp as stainless steel nails underneath, as any Southern charmer knows how to do. While some of Trump's fellow Republican presidential candidates have recently stopped to his level — see Marco Rubio's insinuation about the size of Trump's penis as evidence — Haley took a more subtle and classy route. As The Post and Courrier's Schuyler Kropf wrote while Northerners may think it's just a kind expression, "Bless your heart," is a "well-known and polite way to tell someone off below the Mason-Dixon line."

It's clear that Trump has had a beef with Haley since she endorsed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for the Republican nomination last month. In turn, Haley hasn't shied away from criticizing Trump, going after him in a way that some wished the actual Republican presidential candidates had. In delivering her response to the 2016 State of the Union in January, Haley issued a not-so-veiled critique of Trump and his rhetoric: "During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation." Earlier this week, Haley criticized Trump for his failure to denounce former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and slammed Trump's behavior on ABC's This Week, saying that “Trump is everything we hear and teach our kids not to do in kindergarten."

While Haley has earned her some major Twitter snaps for brushing of the Donald (her tweet has garnered more than 3,000 retweets and nearly 5,000 likes at the time of publication, y'all), it remains to be seen whether throwing some Southern shade will halt Trump on Super Tuesday.