Nikki Haley on President Trump calling Kim Jong Un 'Rocket Man': 'It worked'
Jessica EstepaU.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley on Wednesday defended President Trump's new nickname for North Korea's leader.
During an appearance on Good Morning America, Haley was asked whether it was appropriate for the president to call Kim Jong Un — who has conducted nuclear tests despite warnings from Trump — who has upped his missiles tests in recent weeks, "Rocket Man."
Haley's response?
"It worked," she said. "I was talking to a president of an African country yesterday, and he actually cited 'Rocket Man' back to me... This is a way of getting people to talk about him, but every other international community is now referring to him as 'Rocket Man.'"
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Trump called out North Korea during his Tuesday speech before the United Nations General Assembly, bestowing the nickname and threatening that the United States would "totally destroy" North Korea if the U.S. is forced to defend itself or its allies.
"I think what you saw was the president responding to North Korea's ballistic missile testing, their nuclear bomb test and their threats that they're going to reduce the United States to ashes, as well as destroy Japan," Haley said in an interview with the TODAY show. "So what you saw was a very firm response to the Kim regime that they need to back off, and (Trump) had the entire international community with him."