The Memo: Trump vs. Haley battle enters nastier phase

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

62% : Trump told a rally at the weekend.
62% : Trump also wants one of the most central figures in his reelection campaign, Chris LaCivita, to be the RNC's new chief operating officer.
56% : Trump leads in the state by more than 30 points, according to the polling average maintained by The Hill and Decision Desk HQ.
46% : "It always happens that a president takes over the RNC but, to a bigger extent than I've ever seen, Trump Republicans have taken over state parties.
43% : Trump has won the two major contests so far, in Iowa and New Hampshire, by healthy margins, while the size of his polling lead in South Carolina speaks for itself.
36% : "It would be more normal for a front-runner as dominant as Trump to ignore a rival like Haley, whose chances are shrinking.
36% : Meanwhile, Trump is also stiffening his grip on the apparatus of the party.
33% : Still, Trump is not the kind of candidate to let convention get in the way of a desire to settle scores.
32% : The Senate's passage of a $95 billion bill funding Ukraine's war against Russia and also providing $14 billion in military aid for Israel is in grave danger in the House, where Republicans are loath to get crosswise with Trump.
28% : "Trump was infamously exempted from military service during the Vietnam War because of purported bone spurs.
26% : "Trump is not, officially, the presumptive GOP nominee.
25% : Trump has recently targeted Haley's husband, Michael Haley, with remarks seemingly intended to raise innuendoes about the couple's marriage.
25% : The ferocity of the attacks between Trump and Haley is striking, in part, because Haley served in the former president's administration.
24% : The only candidate who attacked Trump really forcefully, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), went nowhere in the polls and withdrew from the race shortly before the Iowa caucuses.
23% : It's notable, too, that Trump won the GOP South Carolina primary by an easy margin in 2016, back when some Beltway experts thought it was unlikely he would ever reach the White House -- and after he had caused deep controversy by disparaging then-Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for being captured during the Vietnam War.
20% : "Under normal circumstances, you'd ignore the ankle-biters, but Donald Trump is not your average front-runner.
18% : Nikki Haley has duly hit back at Trump, accusing him of disrespecting veterans and slamming his lack of military service.
8% : In a Fox News appearance, Haley hit Trump for a "disgusting" attack that she said amounted to "mocking all veterans.
5% : "At this point in the race, Donald Trump is on cruise control to be the nominee and Nikki Haley is really running a 'statement candidacy' on her issues," said Ryan Williams, a GOP strategist who worked for 2012 GOP nominee and now-Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah.).

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