Give Nikki Haley credit: Few politicians can match her ability at speaking for so long while saying so little. But her mastery of enthusiastic vagueness hasn’t kept her from tripping up on the simplest of questions. Such was the case again in her interview on “The Breakfast Club” this week, when asked to explain her assertion that the thought of Vice President Kamala Harris becoming president “should send chills up everyone’s spine.”
Haley’s rambling answer — which also included what she objected to in Barack Obama’s presidency — exemplifies the devil’s bargain she and every other nonwhite Republican has to make to advance in the GOP. Haley would like to be the answer to the party’s race problem, the living evidence that the party has moved beyond its darkest impulses. But in order to succeed, she has to pander to those very same impulses.
We all know what distinguishes Kamala Harris from other run-of-the-mill Democrats who don’t make Republicans tremble with fear: She’s a woman, and she’s not white.
Haley’s description of a Harris presidency as “spine-chilling” is not new; she’s repeated it throughout this campaign. She knows that the prospect of Harris being president does indeed fill Republican voters with horror. But why?
There’s nothing wrong with criticizing Harris; given Joe Biden’s age, there is a chance that if he is re-elected she would become president by 2028. There’s a difference, however, between criticizing her and saying that the mere thought of her in the Oval Office should inspire terror.
Harris is, by any measure, a standard Democrat. While Republicans would certainly dislike the policies she would pursue, her agenda would be the same as the one pursued by Biden or most other Democrats.
When asked to explain why Harris frightens them so, Republicans will sputter that she’s inexperienced or incompetent. “It’s from an experience standpoint,” Haley told the show’s co-host, DJ Envy. “She’s never been a governor. She’s never had executive experience. She was a senator for a couple of years. But the things that Biden gave her, she didn’t do anything with them.”
But the same argument could be made about many American presidents — including Donald Trump, whose lack of government experience was hailed by Republicans. Before joining Biden’s ticket, Harris served in local government (as a district attorney), state government (as attorney general of California), and the federal government (as a U.S. senator). Three years as vice president gives her more executive branch experience than almost anyone else in the country. True, her tenure as VP has been unremarkable — but you could say that of nearly all her predecessors.
We all know what distinguishes Kamala Harris from other run-of-the-mill Democrats who don’t make Republicans tremble with fear: She’s a woman, and she’s not white. Just like Nikki Haley.
Haley developed a narrative about race in America to present to Republican voters, one that would both exonerate them and allow them to celebrate her.
Rest assured, Haley has spent years thinking about how a woman with her background can succeed in Republican politics. Achieving that success in deeply conservative South Carolina was especially remarkable. Along the way she developed a narrative about race in America to present to Republican voters, one that would both exonerate them and allow them to celebrate her. It’s the same story offered by other nonwhite Republicans, including her fellow South Carolinian Sen. Tim Scott.
That story says that while a few vestigial racists may still cling to life here and there, the larger problem of racism has been solved. In fact, it was solved so long ago that we can barely remember whether the Civil War had anything to do with slavery. Racism is not built into contemporary institutions, and when it pops up, that’s just an isolated “bad apple” (don’t ask them what a bad apple does to the bunch). And if you don’t think you’re a racist, you aren’t.
That fairy tale allows Haley to characterize the Obama years as “when we really started to feel the division” without blaming anyone. “That was because of right-wing media, though,” co-host Charlamagne Tha God pointed out. “They were scared to death of a Black president,” Not so, Haley responded: “Everybody is at fault.” Never mind the tsunami of hatred directed at a Black president. “The division” just kind of happened! If everyone is to blame, then no one is. Going back to her days in South Carolina, Haley has frequently and confidently dismissed racist attacks from within her own party. So when Donald Trump (inevitably) mangled her given first name Nimarata as “Nimbra,” Haley predictably refused to answer whether that was racist. “We can let other people decide that,” she told the hosts. But of course that attack is racist. Stoking racism is its only purpose; Trump wants people to dislike Haley because of her heritage. The fact that Haley can’t acknowledge the subtext that absolutely everyone understands sums up the awkward position she has placed herself in. She can’t admit the obvious because to do so would be not only to indict Trump, but his supporters — whose votes Haley wants. Haley is hoping that she can be the GOP’s Margaret Thatcher, the leader whose success can be offered as proof of her party’s open spirit — and thrown in the face of every opponent who accuses them of prejudice. Perhaps in four years Haley can become that figure. But until then, she’ll keep tiptoeing around Republican voters, simultaneously stoking their fears of the first woman of color to be vice president, even as she assures them their hearts are unsullied by hate. She understands the forces at work, and one day may be able to master them. But that doesn’t make what she’s doing any less distasteful.
Paul Waldman is a journalist and author focused on politics and culture. 
