The race politics of the GOP have only become rawer and more aggressive with each election. Trump is increasingly hysterical about projecting himself as a victim of anti-white bias, while calling out "radical, vicious, racist prosecutors." He's taken particular aim at black elected officials investigating multiple allegations about him, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, former chair of the House January 6th Committee Representative Bennie Thompson (D-MS), and Atlanta-based District Attorney Fani Willis. At the January 2022 rally in Texas where he made that charge, he also dog-whistled that a goal of his in 2024 would be to "take back that beautiful, beautiful house that happens to be white."
Other denizens of Trumpworld are also playing the anti-white card. His former speechwriter Stephen Miller, who launched an "alternative" to the ACLU called America First Legal, ran ads in last year's election season that opened with "When did racism against white people become OK?"
Haley, who is a woman of color, has tolerated such racist forays and so much more. She never condemned Trump or offered an apology for his vile statements including, while she was U.N. ambassador, his reference to nations in Africa and Latin America as "shithole" countries.
When Trump's immigration policy harkened back to the overt racism of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act by calling for a total ban on Muslims entering the United States and he tried to implement that once in office, where was global expert Haley? Where was she when Trump was launching racist and misogynist attacks on women of color, whether elected officials or journalists? Again and again, she absolved Trump of any responsibility for the toxic racist and political environment that defined his presidency.
And in those years, she was exactly where she undoubtedly will be when the dust settles on the 2024 race -- nowhere to be seen.
Copyright 2023 Clarence Lusane
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