Hate Comes First

Nikki Haley threw her hat into the political ring the other day, declaring her candidacy for the Republican Presidential nomination.

I'm sure she knew what she was getting herself into, of course, and the usual suspects wasted no time in delivering wholly predictable reactions.

• CNN's Don Lemon may have committed career suicide by asserting that Haley 'isn't in her prime' in response to her suggesting that politicians over age 75 should be subject to competency exams (itself problematic, but save that for another day).

• Whoopi Goldberg, on The View, bloviated that Haley, 51, is 'not a new generation' in response to Haley's assertion that "Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again. It’s time for a new generation of leadership." Everyone and their aunt Matilda knows she's talking ‘bout Biden, Trump, Schumer, Pelosi, and the rest of the septuagenarian-octogenarians who've been atop the leader board for years, and a 20-30 year gap is definitionally a "generation."

• Daily Beast contributor Wajahat Ali asserted that Haley "uses her brown skin to launder white supremacist talking points."

• New York Magazine columnist Ed Kilgore went full identitarian hack: "It’s sort of the nonwhite person who offers moral authority in absolving white conservatives of any implications of racism." As opposed to all the white people being offended on nonwhites’ behalf?

• The View’s Sunny Hostin accused Haley of trying to “pass,” i.e. appear more white, by not using her “real” name. The ignorance and hypocrisy of this is that “Nikki” is Haley’s actual middle name and of Punjabi origin, while Sunny is short for Asunción. Hostin coughed up an excuse hairball when called out by her co-hosts by asserting that “most Americans can’t pronounce Asunción because of the undereducation in our culture.”

• Lauren Leader, who runs a 'nonprofit women’s civic education organization,' played a variant of identity politics by suggesting that Haley's gender is a problem in the GOP, which is in "a time of maximal sexism." Evidence neither proffered nor required, of course.

• Rolling Stone translated a reported refusal to criticize Trump as 'unable to explain why voters should pick her over Trump.'

• Right-wing firebrand Ann Coulter unleashed on Haley, presumably for having the temerity to challenge the Untethered Orange Id, suggesting that she "go back to [her] own country” where people are “starving” while “worshipping cows and rats," calling her a "bimbo," and more. Haley was born in America - a prerequisite for being President - making Coulter's remark not only racist and sexist and religion-bigoted but ignorant.

• Trump 'welcomed' Haley into the GOP nomination process while suggesting that he did South Carolina a favor by appointing her UN Ambassador and getting her out of the Governor's mansion in favor of Henry McMaster (an Old White Guy (OWG), for those keeping score) who, per Trump, has "done an absolutely fantastic job." Trump's "the more the merrier" remark probably reflects a belief that multiple opponents will split the anti-Trump vote, giving him an easier path to the nomination, so don't figure he's honest in the praise either.

• GOP Congresswoman, Trump loyalist, and affirmed nitwit Marjorie Taylor Greene offered, "Nikki Haley is just another George (or Jeb!) Bush. If we wanted a 'Bush in heels,' Republicans would vote for Liz Cheney."

Greene did mention some policy-based arguments in her swipes at Haley, which is more than I can say for the others I mentioned here.

As a woman, a child of immigrants, and a Person of Color, Haley has enough intersectionality to rank well on the Left's grievance hierarchy. However, she has committed multiple "sins" in that world, (Christian (and a convert, no less), pro-life, and horror of horrors, Republican) to brand her an apostate. As in, being a minority woman obligates her to left-allegiance, and her failure to cleave to their dogma is a mortal offense.

The other side also deems her an apostate. Having been anointed by Trump, her decision to run against him is an act of disloyalty for those who deem loyalty to the Untethered One to be an inviolate First Commandment.

I Am The Orange Thy Trump. Thou Shalt Bend The Knee Until The End Of Days.

Political shit-talking predates Christ, so none of this is a surprise. The entertainment value lies in the abandonment of all principle by those who claim to champion women and minorities, simply because the cold reality is that they are cynically tribal partisans. Defending their team and their guy is all that matters. OWGs are the worst thing in the world, except when they are "their" OWGs, and identity politics go right out the window when they don't work in their favor.

So, Haley gets insta-hate from all of the above, proving yet again that all their social justice blather and "champions of the oppressed" folderol is just a smokescreen for rank tribalism.

As for the band of Trumpsters? They'd rather go down with the ship than embrace a better chance at unseating the President they so dislike. Trump is the most likely to lose to Biden in 2024.

Greene excepted, none of these ad hominem attacks mention policy, which is what we all should be talking about. Yes, policy tends to follow party, but if Haley's haters were to knock her for what she'd do rather than for her demographic markers, they might have a more receptive audience outside their echo chambers.

Personally, I'd vote for a soap dish over Biden at this point. I would not vote for Trump, however - his post-election behavior must not be rewarded. Many, myself included, fear he's right in thinking that a large scrum in the primaries would work in his favor by splitting the rest of the votes, but I also hold hope that his base, while still very noisy, is getting smaller every month. While I have offered a number of positive takes on Trump’s first term, believing he got a decent number of things right and also believing that his Presidency was a necessary rebuttal to a government run amok, it’s time we moved on from him and his increasingly aberrant behavior.

Haley’s right, the nation needs some new blood. Whether it’s her, DeSantis, Pompeo, or another “next generation” candidate, a change of leadership will do the nation a whole lot of good.