Curiously, it begins by saying where she grew up, in Bamberg, South Carolina, "The railroad tracks divided the town by race." Conservatives widely mocked Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in 2021 when he noted that some highways were "built for the purpose of dividing a white and a Black neighborhood."
Indeed, New York Times Magazine reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones, the creator of The 1619 Project, excoriated Haley on several fronts.
She accuses Haley of using The 1619 Project "as political prop in a video that opens with growing up where railroad tracks (not white people) divided the town by race. Talking about being the child of immigrants without acknowledging that the rights she had in SC were won by Black resistance."
"Just peak," she added.
Hannah-Jones continued, noting that Haley talked "about how governments in China and Iran kill their own citizens while from a state where in 1968, four years before she was born, highway patrolman -- govt agents -- opened fire on 200 unarmed Black citizens protesting apartheid in South Carolina."
In her campaign launch video and over the years Haley has woven a myth that America is not a racist nation – "America is not racist," she said in 2020 – but Hannah-Jones also notes that "Nikki Haley's family was able to immigrate to the US because the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act finally ended the racist immigration quota system designed to keep out most non-white immigrants."
Her campaign video is being widely panned by others as well, on the left and even on the right.
Aaron Parnas, former Trump supporter turned Democratic activist, told the former Republican governor to "Read the room," adding: "Whoever told Nikki Haley it was a good idea to launch her campaign the morning after a mass shooting, at 6 AM, and on Valentine’s Day is giving her terrible advice."
Democratic strategist and communications consultant Sawyer Hackett, a senior advisor to Julián Castro, says: "In this ad, Nikki Haley explicitly rejects the idea of institutional racism—then goes on to highlight her role responding to the the white supremacist massacre in Charleston."
He adds, "Nothing says hopeful presidential message like references to genocide, white supremacist massacres, and babies being 'thrown into fires!'"
Indeed, Haley says, "In Iran, they murder their own people for challenging the government. And when a woman tells you about watching soldiers, throw her baby into a fire. It puts things in perspective."
In her video Haley also discusses the hate crime massacre of nine worshippers during Bible study at "Mother" Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Twitter user Darryn M. Briggs retweeted Haley's video, and said: "Here is your reminder that it took the slaughter of 9 Black churchgoers for Nikki Haley to reluctantly take down the Confederate flag from the SC state house...
...and even then she did so with the utmost respect...
...for traitors to the U.S. who fought to preserve slavery."
Fox News contributor Byron York, the Chief political correspondent for the Washington Examiner, writes: "Haley video. Good: Jab at 1619 Project. Frank admission GOP has lost popular vote in 7 of 8 presidential elections. Bad: Odd attempt to press SC template--A great day in SC! then Charleston murders then renewal--onto today's politics."
"Also," he adds, "it's too long."
Igor Volsky, the Executive Director of Guns Down America reminds that Haley's video "underscores her response to the June 2015 shooting at Mother Emanuel Church, noting she 'turned away from fear, toward God.' But since that 2015 shooting, ~3,532 South Carolinians have died from gun violence."
Regardless of the quality of her campaign video, Morning Consult's Eli Yokley observes that "3% of potential GOP primary voters say they're backing her candidacy."
Watch Haley's video below or at this link.
