Nikki Haley, the South Carolina governor hand-picked by House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to give the Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union addressed, confirmed Wednesday morning that she did indeed target GOP frontrunner Donald Trump and that the speech was approved in advance by Republican leaders.

Probably because Chris Cuomo isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, Don Lemon was rousted out of bed early to interview Haley on CNN’s “New Day.” Haley not only confirmed she was targeting Trump, she seemed to compare him to the rioters in Ferguson and Baltimore.

LEMON: I think I want to start with that soundbite. You said the ‘loudest voices in the room.’ Was that comment directed at Donald Trump? HALEY: Partially him, but a lot of people. You know, a lot of what I was talking about is that we’ve seen across our country — if you look at Ferguson and Baltimore we are seeing that people have to be loud, they have to be angry to have their voices heard.

Haley want on to say that, “I’m very thankful Speaker Ryan and Senator McConnell let me give the speech I wanted to give.” When asked if the GOP leaders approved of her text in advance, she confirmed, “They did.”

On NBC’s “Today Show,” Haley told Matt Lauer, “Mr. Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk.”

Haley enjoyed a nice round of love of love from both NBC and CNN.

If Haley wants to endorse a GOP presidential candidate, hit the stump for that candidate, and rip into Donald Trump, no one is going to begrudge her that. But to use the State of the Union response to publicly attack her own frontrunner must be unprecedented, and certainly serves as more proof to Trump’s supporters that the Republican Establishment is much more interested in DC Media love than winning elections and advancing their legislative agenda.

The eyes of the entire country were on Haley Tuesday night, and rather than use that time to make a case against the Democrats, Haley squandered it by attacking the frontrunner, which is all anyone is talking about tonight.

Haley’s unconscionably selfish behavior reminds me of Chris Christie’s keynote address for Mitt Romney at the 2012 convention. Rather than make the case for Romney or against Obama, he used the opportunity to puff himself up.

The GOP Establishment has lost the popular vote in 5 of the last 6 presidential elections.

For the good of the country, this suicidal Republican Establishment temple must come down and be ground into dust.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC