Nikki Haley said Monday that former President Donald Trump and Vice President Sen. JD Vance should change the way they talk about women and instead focus on political positions.

In an interview on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” Haley, the former South Carolina governor, was asked why she thinks Harris has a 14-point lead in the gender gap among women.

“I think it’s because Donald Trump and JD Vance need to change the way they talk about women. You don’t have to call Kamala stupid. She didn’t get this far, you know, just by accident… She’s a You don’t have to go talk about intelligence or looks or anything else, just focus on politics, she said.

Haley said that when Republicans call Democratic women “stupid,” “Republican women get their backs too.”

“The bottom line is we’re winning on politics,” she added. “Stick to policy, leave all other things. That’s how he can win.”

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment on Haley’s remarks.

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Trump has targeted Harris with ad hominem attacks since she entered the race after President Joe Biden dropped out. Speaking to a New Hampshire-focused podcast last week, Trump said Harris is “not smart enough.”

“Something is wrong,” Trump said. “There’s something wrong, but we can’t go four more years with a stupid president. We can’t do that. We had four years with a president who should never have been there, and we can’t have that.”

Despite saying earlier this year that she would not support Trump as she left the GOP presidential race, Haley voiced strong support for him in remarks at the Republican National Convention in July.

But since I backed him, Haley has not shied away from criticizing the former presidentfor which she resigned as governor to serve as US ambassador to the United Nations.

Haley said in an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that aired Sunday that she doesn’t agree with Trump’s style or communication strategy, but that “it’s not a question” whether she would endorse him over Harris because of his policies. .

“Now, do I agree with his style? Do I agree with his approach? Do I agree with his communication? No,” Haley said. “When I look at the policies and how they affect my family, and how I think they’re going to affect the country, that’s where I go back and I look at the differences. I mean it’s — these are the candidates we’ve got .”

She later added, referring to comments from Vance“No, it doesn’t help to talk about whether women have children or not.”

Haley also said in describing both nominees: “None of them are perfect. Neither of them are ideal.”

Earlier this year, while still running in the Republican presidential primary, Haley commented on the lawsuits Trump faced during the campaign cycle, saying the public sees him going “on these rants about how he’s the victim.”

“I think that’s exactly what we don’t need a strong leader to be,” she said in January on NBC News’ Meet the Press. “These court cases are going to keep happening one after another. We’re going to keep seeing him in a courtroom, and we’re going to see him come out and give a press conference. That’s not what you want a president to be. But more than so, that’s not what we want Russia to see. That’s not what we want China to see. And that’s not what we want Iran to see.”

Haley also said that Trump is not someone who can get the country back on track.

“You can’t do that with him, and I think it’s not being disrespectful, it’s the fact that when you’re 80, you decline,” she said. “There are several things that I think are why he shouldn’t be president. That’s the whole reason I’m running. I think he’s in decline, and I think he needs to know to get out of there.”