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After today’s New Hampshire primary, Haley will likely drop out and save herself from further humiliation, writes John Casey.
I can’t imagine what it’s like to be Nikki Haley’s communications director – a job surely with a short shelf life. How do you even attempt to walk back statements ignoring that the Civil War had anything to do with slavery? Or that racism never existed in the United States?
Haley tried to walk back the latter on Fox & Friends last week, which is ironic since we know that the “not how white men fight” network has never had a hint of racism. Haley said the founders never intended racism (FYI, 10 of the first 12 presidents were slave owners) and that saying the U.S. is racist will make kids feel bad about their country.
Further, as governor of South Carolina, she opined that the Confederate flag wasn't "racist" but was instead a part of "tradition." (The Confederate flag flying must have made children of color so happy.) Then last week, she added this gem:
I have to know in my heart, and in everybody’s heart, that we live in the best country in the world. And we are a work in progress, and we’ve got a long way to go to fix all of our little kinks, but I truly believe our Founding Fathers had the best of intentions when they started.
Yes, slavery and racism have been “little kinks” along our merry way as a country.
The irony of that statement was not lost on me. Haley is but a “little kink” in Donald Trump’s romp and stomp to the Republican presidential nomination. And while she might come within 20 points of him in mostly white New Hampshire, she’s going to get trounced once the campaign moves south, where Trump will impart a “little kink” of racism in the race by continuing to refer to her as Nimarata or Nimbra.
Nothing at all racist about that, right?
Right before he dropped out of the race, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was caught on a hot mike saying that Haley “is going to get smoked.” Trump will smoke her at every opportunity, reminding people that Nimarata Haley has dark skin, she’s not white, and she’s a woman.
Nothing racist or misogynist about that.
After New Hampshire, if she stays in the race, she heads to her home state of South Carolina, where she’s getting trounced by Trump by almost 40 points.
Nothing embarrassing about getting clobbered in your home state.
Haley has seemed befuddled and downright ignorant throughout the campaign. Remember the woman in Texas who was forced to flee the state for a lifesaving abortion? When this was front-page news and the lead story on the evening TV news, Haley gave an interview to ABC News' Linsey Davis. “I don’t know the details of the case that you’re referring to” was her astonishing answer. Haley was the only woman in America who didn’t know.
She also told Davis the real danger for women is not government control over their own bodies but trans women in female sports. That’s right. That is what is keeping women up at night, not the fact that they or a loved one may have to go to another state for lifesaving care.
Haley fumbled her way around the abortion question without revealing her deep-rooted and unwavering opposition to abortion rights. As the Associated Press reported, “As a state legislator and governor, Haley supported several anti-abortion measures and often clashed with members of her party because she labeled them insufficiently conservative.”
Haley once said she didn’t like Florida’s “don’t say gay” law because it only went through third grade (it has since been expanded). In the fourth Republican debate, in December, she mixed up this law and others while trying to outdo her rivals on transphobia. “I said that if you have to be 18 to get a tattoo, you should have to be 18 to have anything done to change your gender,” she said.
Nikki Haley is an unmitigated disaster, and it’s even more appalling that “moderate” conservatives feel she is their “savior” as the only viable alternative to Trump. To spare herself the humiliation of losing in her home state, being continually referred to by the MAGA crowd as Nimarata, and spewing more nonsense about this country’s history, Haley needs to drop out.
If she doesn’t, Trump will eat her alive. At this point, her “delicate dance” of trying to appease Trump, the MAGA base, moderate Republicans, and independents has left her stumbling, with her feet firmly planted in her mouth.
She’s nothing but a “little kink” in Trump’s way to secure the nomination on his quest to install an autocracy. If she is all that the Republicans have standing in his way, that’s disgraceful — and downright scary!
