Malcolm Gladwell did a podcast on this. Basically you pick a token woman/minority and treat them like an equal. Since you just proved you’re not a sexist/racist you can continue to be ultra sexist/racist.
He did a better job explaining it than I did.
Chris Christie, talking about Haley’s Civil War comments, says the quiet part out loud.
Christie said in a New Hampshire town hall Thursday that Haley “didn’t say what she said last night and today about this because she’s dumb. She’s not, she’s smart and she knows better. And she didn’t say it because she’s a racist, because she’s not,” Christie said. “I know her well and I don’t believe Nikki has a racist bone in her body. But for purposes (of) this race, the reason she did it is just as bad, if not worse, and should make everybody concerned about her candidacy. She did it because she’s unwilling to offend anyone by telling the truth.” Christie argued that if Haley is unwilling to say slavery is what caused the Civil War “because she’s afraid of offending constituents,” then she won’t have the backbone to stand up to Democratic lawmakers, foreign leaders and forces in her own party dragging the country “deeper and deeper into anger and division.”
Bolding mine.
I don’t know if Haley herself is too cowardly to give a straight answer, she was willing to take a stand against confederate symbols in her state when she was governor. (Not saying it was some big act of courage or anything, but she certainly had people on the right who weren’t happy with her for doing so and she did it anyway.)
But I’d guess that she has advisors warning her about the political consequences of answering questions like this in an honest way, and her lack of courage against that equates to the same thing. So it’s cowardice either way.
If this was the advice she was given, every one of her advisors needs to be fired now.
I mean, in this day and age, even an explicitly racist motherfucker should know that, if you’re involved in politics, you need an answer to this question that you can rattle off, without sounding like a coward or an idiot. We’ve already seen examples of exactly such answers, and it’s inexcusable for her, or anyone who advises her, to not be on the ball for this.
It’s akin to Trump’s stupid line, “No one knew health care was so complicated!” Ah, no, fuckhead, everyone except you knew it was complicated.
Maybe she wasn’t coached to say precisely what they said (I’m sure she wasn’t), but they may have warned her about being careful to not alienate the MAGA crowd and she went about it in a terrible way. I could see advisors warning her to be cautious on certain subjects.
Yes, and she’d know to do that herself anyway. She’s at least politically savvy enough to figure that out for herself.
And, perhaps to take the discussion away from “The Late Unpleasantries,” she’s announced that she’ll pardon Trump.
“I would pardon Trump.” Not would consider pardoning on certain charges, or any other qualifications.
“If he is found guilty, a leader needs to think about what’s in the best interest of the country,” Haley said. “What’s in the best interest of the country is not to have an 80-year-old man sitting in jail, that continues to divide our country.”
“What’s in the best interest of the country would be to pardon him, so that we can move on as a country and no longer talk about him,”
A hail-Nikki pass to get the MAGA voters, as well as create a pardon litmus test for the rest of the GOP candidates.
“we can move on as a country and no longer talk about him,” Although, you understand that the behavior you accept is the behavior you encourage. That’s a divide that won’t go away, and I’ll still be on my side of it.
Kinda like the way she thinks we can move on as a country by not talking about slavery.
Clever of her to remind the MAGA voters of something they’ve blanked out on: Trump’s age. Not that they’ll have any trouble ‘lalalalala’-ing it away, of course.
Haley is eager to make the same mistake Gerald Ford did. The idea that letting a President get away with committing crimes is a good thing “for the nation” is profoundly stoopid, and of course is more about avoiding embarrassment for the Republican Party than about anything else.
But if something happens to Trump, and Haley or one of her peers gets the Presidency, a pardon (posthumous if necessary) is a virtual certainty.
My Irish wife just got her American citizenship earlier this year. She was diligent in boning up on the questions they asked, one of which was:
Q) Name one problem that led to the Civil War.
slavery
economic reasons
states’ rights
When I was quizzing her, helping her to prepare for the oral section, her answer every time was “Slavery,” and we’d move on to the next question.
If she had given NH’s answer at the exam, that would’ve been a sight to see.
They are kinda all correct answers but, certainly, slavery was at the root of it all and the best answer for that.
Fortunately for those of us who came after, the secessionists told us exactly why they did what they did. They left no doubt whatsoever. Sure, it’s in flowery language and is internally conflicting, but the reason for secession is RIGHT THERE. They WROTE IT DOWN!
Here is South Carolina’s declaration: Avalon Project - Confederate States of America - Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union
Poisoned? Not at all. Perfectly reasonable. Will they reject the Lost Cause or espouse racism?
To be honest, if I was Prez, I would think about commuting trumps sentence. Ponder it. Probably not, but it would deserve some thought. Not “commute” not “pardon”- and that is to get rid of the security issues and expenses.
Republican candidates should think it through a little more though. You cannot beat Trump fair and square. If you beat him, he is going to instantly accuse you of all the same stuff he has accused Biden of doing. You stole the election, you cheated, etc. Political interference! RINOs! Deep State! You know the routine.
Now go ahead and tell him that you forgive him for trying to overthrow the government. Do you suppose he will wait until the term you stole from him is up before trying to overthrow the government again after you told him it was okay to do it?
Anyone who thinks that is an idiot. Trump would immediately hold “totally exonerated” rallies with merch to match and announce he is going to run for president again. And LOL if she would think pardoning him would make him be nice to her. He would make her presidency a living hell.
Exactly.
Did it look like this?
These Republican candidates are scared as fuck about MAGA lunatics. They all pander to the Trump supporters with no cognitive recognition that Trump’s supporters are going to vote for Trump.
They go out of their way, even make themselves come across as dumber than they are, to suck up to the Maga morons.
And they also sometimes want really badly to be Trump’s VP, as though that was a prize worth winning.
I suspect that this is, at least in part, under the hope that Trump’s bad diet, age, and eternal rage catch up to him, leading to incapacitation or death, thus granting a field promotion to said VP.
Heck, If Trump keeled over after the nomination but before the election, it’s quite possible his VP pick would be in the best position to go to the top of the ballot.