Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, arguably Donald Trump's biggest competitor keeping him from clinching the 2024 GOP nomination, doubled down Thursday night on comments she made suggesting that the United States has never been racist.
Haley, in an town hall event with CNN's Jake Tapper, was asked if she really thinks, as a historical matter, that America has never been a racist country.
"I mean, first of all, I will tell you when you look at, you know, the Declaration of Independence, it was that men are created equal with unalienable rights, right?" she replied. She then added that she refuses to believe that the nation was founded on racist principles, and said the country is a work in progress.
Lincoln Project co-founder Reed Galen said simply that Haley "can't get out of her own way." He also added that he was shaking his head in response.
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National security attorney Bradley P. Moss also chimed in, with a slight defense of Haley's answer.
"She fumbles the answer but what I think Haley is *trying* to say is that while we have had and still have racism in this country, including some of the original text of the Constitution, the ideals on which the country is based was designed to move us beyond those original sins," he wrote. "That is sort of the 'judge the original text by the standards of the time' defense, while noting how it permitted future generations to fix things through constitutional amendments, legislation and the like."
An opinion writer simply wrote, "She refuses to acknowledge it."
Former federal prosecutor and activist Ron Filipkowski said on Thursday night in response to Haley that "telling the truth & being honest about your past doesn't mean that you hate your country."
"It means that you love it more because you understand it better, & despite being aware of the dark chapters, or having experienced them, you are patriotic to your core & don't need to wave flags."
