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You knew it was coming.

As soon as former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley emerged as the main threat to Donald Trump in the battle for the Republican nomination, it became inevitable that she would be targeted by him. Any front-runner would do the same thing. But Trump did it with his typical touch.

Last week Trump reposted on his Truth Social account a conspiracy theory that Haley, who was born in South Carolina, was not qualified to be president because her parents, born in India, were not U.S. citizens at the time of her birth. In fact, the Fourteenth Amendment establishes that any person born on American soil is a citizen of the United States and therefore can serve as president.

...

By Friday the former president of the United States was referring to Haley as “Nimbra.”

There are two things to know in order to understand what’s unfolding. The first is that Haley’s given name is Nimarata Nikki Randhawa. She has gone by Nikki since she was a child—a local newspaper referred to her as Nikki when she was 12 years old and she had a role in a production of Li’l Abner; and she dropped her maiden name when she married Michael Haley in 1996.

Non-paywall link

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[-] narcogen@kbin.social 134 points 1 year ago

He didn't make them that way. He gave them permission to stop pretending it was a bad look to be that way openly.

[-] Red_October@lemmy.world 35 points 1 year ago

Exactly this. The only change has been that they've started to say the quiet part out loud. Their political behavior hasn't especially changed, they're just not bothering to be any shade of discrete anymore.

[-] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

Like, who writes these titles? Surely anyone aware of Nixon's war on drugs targeting hippies and black people, or Reagan ignoring the AIDS crisis, or any number of other examples would've made it clear that Republicans have been this way for decades, really since the southern strategy was enacted.

[-] nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 1 year ago

Right, that’s what the southern strategy was.

Get all the white voters on your side by stoking racial fears. Trump just realized that the racists are everywhere, and many of them were too dumb to understand the dog whistles enough to be motivated to vote. What some of the rest of us underestimated, was how little the rest of the conservatives would care.

[-] thesprongler@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Exactly, and we'll never get any real progress if we can't pin the tail on the real elephant in the room.

[-] JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world 67 points 1 year ago

Pretty sure it's always been like this since newt.

The first president I was conscious of is Reagan. At least since him, really.

[-] lagomorphlecture@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago

I was thinking the same thing. They've always been that way. He just told them it's ok to say the quiet part outloud.

[-] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Look at Nixon quotes regarding war on drugs to target hippies and black people. It's been going on a long time.

Ed- https://www.vera.org/reimagining-prison-webumentary/the-past-is-never-dead/drug-war-confessional

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[-] crystalmerchant@lemmy.world 47 points 1 year ago

Other way around. The conservative wing has always been cruel, xenophobic, exclusionary, and bigoted. Trump is simply the natural result on top.of all that

[-] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 41 points 1 year ago

Trump didnt make the Republican Party Cruel, Xenophobic, Exclusionary, or bigoted.

he just made it acceptable to let the those flag fly publicly.

[-] reverendsteveii@lemm.ee 40 points 1 year ago

trump changed nothing about conservatives.

[-] Croquette@sh.itjust.works 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The only thing that changed is that they brazenly say out loud what they were thinking before.

[-] Binthinkin@kbin.social 35 points 1 year ago

It was always that way don’t be stupid. Do you really think GWB’s conman party was not hostile to minorities? Back then they were just “one of the good ones.” They had more nuance with their prejudices and race conspiracies.

Now the mask is off, that’s it.

[-] PugJesus@kbin.social 35 points 1 year ago

The Party of Malice. Donald Trump has made the Republican Party open about being cruel, xenophobic, exclusionary, and bigoted

FTFY

[-] deft@lemmy.wtf 31 points 1 year ago

I hate this shit Trump literally did nothing but say the quiet parts out loud.

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[-] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 28 points 1 year ago

Anyone else remember when W tried to popularize the phrase "compassionate conservatism"? It's an implicit admission that conservatism is inherently uncompassionate.

[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

i.e., the exception that proves the rule.

[-] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 4 points 1 year ago

Kudos for using that term correctly.

[-] DessertStorms@kbin.social 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

"Made"?
lol, no. More like "enabled by".

[-] BobGnarley@lemm.ee 23 points 1 year ago

Started with Reagans bitch ass

[-] ares35@kbin.social 19 points 1 year ago
[-] hogunner@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

100%.

There’s a reason Roger Stone has a huge Nixon tattoo…well probably more than one reason, all equally bad.

[-] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago

Who the fuck gets a tattoo of a politician?

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[-] kromem@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago

It's literally the party that is made up in part by the racists who were upset enough about the Civil Rights Act that they switched parties.

It's been this way for a while.

[-] andyburke@fedia.io 20 points 1 year ago

The title is backwards: the cruel, xenophobic, exclusionary and bigoted GOP finds its embodiment in Donald Trump.

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[-] samus12345@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago

Donald Trump revealed to the Republican Party that they can be openly cruel, xenophobic, exclusionary, and bigoted instead of pretending they're not.

[-] thefartographer@lemm.ee 15 points 1 year ago

Trump didn't make anything. He scratched a scab which revealed a festering wound. All he did was give conservatives the chance to say, "ew, I'm not gonna let that define me," while those who remained said, "I don't trust medical science, that's just a sign that we're healing," and those who jumped on the bandwagon said, "that's never gonna heal properly, but if we help it get worse then we can do the medically sane thing and cut the limb off." Finally, there are those last two in the scab camp who either say, whoa! That wound is insane, heheh! Let's see how bad it can get," or those who say, "God wants this to rot because I'm hiding some naughty secrets. I hope we all die."

Then there's the rest of us who look at all of them and shout, "WHY ARE YOU VOTING FOR A FUCKING SCAB???"

[-] SharkAttak@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago

Don't forget the "how much money I can make selling band-aids?" crowd.

[-] Witchfire@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

🌎👩‍🚀🔫👩‍🚀

[-] docAvid@midwest.social 11 points 1 year ago

Insert "always has been" meme here.

[-] dharwin@kbin.social 10 points 1 year ago

Don't forget stupid. Trump and his supporters are dumb as fucking rocks.

[-] SPRUNT@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

I think you're taking quite a bit away from the rocks with that statement.

[-] TigrisMorte@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago

The Republican Party has been exclusively xenophobic, exclusionary, and bigoted for at least sixty years.

[-] SharkAttak@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

Paraphrasing a famous song, he didn't start the fire..

[-] books@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Call out his supporters. The only way to change people's minds is if people think they are the assholes not just Donald.

[-] rynzcycle@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

I never understood the You Have Failed Me trope. If I found myself on the side where failing, or being too successful (being a threat) equals death, I'd switch sides as soon as I can. But I suppose this is just the human nature of fascism, and perhaps baffling to non-fascists.

[-] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

Trump is such a petty man. Small-minded is everything he does and says. Truly embarrassing.

[-] cabron_offsets@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Nah bruv. He just gave the cunts a chance to shine.

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this post was submitted on 22 Jan 2024
353 points (93.8% liked)

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