Nikki Haley trolls Trump with homoerotic Valetine’s Day cards to his favorite dictators

Haley’s imagined Valentine’s Day card from Trump to North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. Photo: Nikki Haley campaign

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is celebrating Valentine’s Day with former President Donald Trump… but not in a way that he’ll love. She created fake Valentine’s cards from him to some of the most notorious anti-LGBTQ+ world leaders.

“Happy Valentine’s Day from Donald Trump to dictators around the world!” Haley’s campaign recently wrote. “Over the years, Trump has professed his love for the world’s most brutal dictators and praised their strength and leadership skills.”

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While the cards have undeniably homoerotic and possibly homophobic overtones, they’re likely trying to get under the skin of the hyper-masculine Trump while subversively pointing out his unseemly affection towards anti-LGBTQ+ “strongman” leaders.

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The cards also arrive at a time when Haley is pursuing her long-shot bid to beat Trump in the February 24 South Carolina Republican presidential primary. Although she once served as the state’s governor, state polls there show him beating her 66.1% to 30.3%, according to the data journalist site FiveThirtyEight.

One of the Valentine’s cards, addressed to North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un, quotes Trump from September 2018, saying, “Kim wrote me beautiful letters and they’re great letters. We fell in love.”

During Trump’s historic meeting with the leader, Trump didn’t say anything about the country’s human rights abuses. North Korean law doesn’t seem to explicitly mention LGBTQ+ people, but one defector from the country said that its citizens have no concept of homosexuality or transgender identities. There are 130,000 people in concentration camps in North Korea.

Meanwhile, Trump spent his Valetine’s Day asking his e-mail subscribers to donate money in recognition of his love for his wife, Melania, a woman whom often seemed disinterested in him during his presidency and who has been entirely absent during his recent campaign for president.

“Dear Melania, I LOVE YOU!” Trump’s email began. “Even after every single INDICTMENT, ARREST, and WITCH HUNT, you never left my side. You’ve always supported me through everything. I wouldn’t be the man I am today without your guidance, kindness, and warmth. You will always mean the world to me, Melania! From your husband with love, Donald J. Trump.”

He then encouraged his subscribers to “leave some kind words for the First Lady this Valentine’s Day!” and to “SEND YOUR LOVE.” Clicking on “SEND YOUR LOVE” link caused a message to pop-up asking followers to give a suggested minimum donation of $47.

A second card, addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, quotes Trump’s own words during his March 2018 call to Putin congratulating him on his re-election. In reality, Russia’ election was marred with widespread fraud and intimidation, including the jailing of Putin’s opponents.

“I called President Putin of Russia to congratulate him on his election victory,” the card quotes Trump as saying. “The Fake News Media is crazed because they wanted me to excoriate him. They are wrong! Getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing.”

Putin has made life in his country hellish for LGBTQ+ people and blamed the U.S. and other Western countries for spreading pro-LGBTQ+ “perversions” to children worldwide.

Trump recently said that the U.S. should withdraw from the North American Treaty Organization (NATO) — the Western alliance seeking to limit Russia’s military expansion, in order to “contain Russia” — and “encourage [Russia] to do whatever the hell they want” with NATO member nations who don’t financially contribute as much as the U.S. does.

A third card quotes Trump’s September 2021 praise of the Taliban while criticizing President Joe Biden’s tumultous August 2021 evacuation of U.S. military troops from the Taliban-run Afghanistan. Trump negotiated the terms of the evacuation during his presidency.

“The Taliban, good fighters, I will tell you good fighters,” Trump is quoted as saying in Haley’s Valentine’s card. “You have to give them credit for that. They’ve been fighting for 1,000 years. What they do is they fight.”

The Taliban promised to institute anti-LGBTQ+ Sharia law following the evacuation. As queer people rushed to flee the country, a Taliban judge promised to prosecute and execute gay people by stoning or pushing a wall on top of them.

Yet another card quoted Trump’s November 2023 praise of Chinese President Xi Jinping, stating, “He’s strong. I know him very well. President Xi of China. What can I say? He runs 1.4 billion people with an iron hand.”

The Chinese leader’s crackdown on LGBTQ+ people has been methodical and relentless. His officials have surveilled, tracked down, and harassed queer rights activists. They have also banned pro-LGBTQ+ content from social media platforms and state media outlets.

Trump’s alignment with these anti-LGBTQ+ leaders isn’t surprising considering that he’s the most anti-LGBTQ+ president of all time. But while Haley has tried positioning herself as a moderate compared to him, she has opposed same-sex marriage, trans children competing in school sports, and allowing LGBTQ+ content in public schools.