Americans need to see competency tests for any elected official aged above 75, Republican presidential aspirant Nikki Haley has said seeking a new generational leadership in the country.
"We have got too many politicians in DC that are past their prime. We have to have term limits in Congress. We need to see competency tests for any elected official over the age of 75," Haley told Fox News in an interview.
The White House did not appear to have agreed with her. Both President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump who has already announced his decision to run are over 75 years of age.
"We have heard these types of attacks or remarks before," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at a news conference here.
"If you go back to 2020, they said the President couldn't do it in 2020 and attacked him there and he beat them. In 2021 when he entered the White House and worked to do his best to turn everything around with the economy tanking, with no real COVID comprehensive response, the President got to work and was able to pass the American Rescue plan with the help of Democrats in Congress,” she said.
"And guess what? They turned around the economy and he beat them there too. In 2022, and everyone was talking about a red wave and saying that we were going to get another shellacking, if you will, the President beat them at their own game there as well. So I don't know, maybe they're forgetting the wins that this President has had over the last couple of years. But I'm happy to remind them any time," Jean-Pierre said.
In her interview to Fox News, Haley said the United States needs new generational leadership. “We have to leave the status quo. We have to leave this chaos behind, and we've got to start talking about the future," she said.
"You need a Washington outsider that's going to come in and say I understand that families are having to pay more to make their grocery bill. I understand that they are worried about their children who may never get back what they lost during COVID,” she said. “I understand the fact that when someone's factory leaves town, he's worried that his future went with it. I understand that you should not have Americans looking up at the sky and seeing a Chinese spy balloon looking back at them. This is insanity. And what we need are a lot of changes,” Haley told Fox News.
"We have got to stop the spending addiction that is happening that is causing inflation to go up, and we need to start realizing that we don't need our politicians getting on TV and talking. We need the people in D.C. doing. We need to spark a fire up under them, and that's what I'm willing to do," she said.
"If you are tired of losing because we've lost the last seven out of eight popular votes for president, we're doing something wrong. If you are tired of losing, then join me and go to NikkiHaley.com because we are going to go and fight for a strong and proud America again," said the former two-term Governor of South Carolina.
The Republican Party, she said, needs to expand its tent and bring in other groups and communities within its fold. "We are not about compromises. We are not about changing who we are. We're about fighting boldly for what we believe, but convincing our opponents to be with us, and that's the part that's going to change. We need to expand our tent. We have to bring Hispanics in. We have to bring the Jewish community in,” she said.
"We need to bring the Asian community in. We need to bring African Americans in, because our policies are right. Our policies are good. We focus on lifting up everybody, not just a select few. But we have to start talking in a way that brings people in and that's what we can do. And a lot of that has to do with the fact that DC is broken, it's been broken for a long time,” Haley said.
"We have to have the courage to walk away from the status quo, walk away from all the past problems, and to say, we are not going to leave this country to our children. We're going to make sure that we leave our country better for our children because they deserve it," Haley said.
Responding to a question, Haley said one doesn't have to be 80 years old to be president. "We don't need to have these same people going back again. We need something new. We need a new generation of fighters. We need people that understand where your average American is coming from, and we shouldn't be afraid to fig"t for that. And that's what I'm willing to do,” she said.
"I'm not going to kick sideways. I don't have time for that. That's not my focus. I'm kicking forward. It's all about Joe Biden and it's all about the people in America winning again," Haley said.
Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.
