Nikki Haley Spars With Charlamagne On Racism in America, Slams ‘Toxic’ Donald Trump For Dividing the Country
GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley joined Charlamagne tha God and DJ Envy on their New York City-based radio show The Breakfast Club for an hour-long discussion that ran the gambit from race in America to Donald Trump.
During the discussion, Haley continued to sharpen her attacks on former President Trump, who maintains a large lead over her in the GOP primary. While discussing Trump’s impact on U.S. politics, Haley argued, “He’s made it chaotic. He’s made it self-absorbed. He’s made people dislike and judge each other.”
“He’s left that a president should have moral clarity and know the difference between right or wrong. And he’s just toxic,” Haley said of the GOP frontrunner. Haley went on to say she is “so determined” to stay in the GOP race because she knows “America is better than this” and she wants to stand for decency in politics.
At a different point in the conversation, Charlamagne pressed Haley on her comment that America is not a racist country.
“I wonder why can’t politicians, Democrat and Republican? Because we’ve all heard. We’ve heard you say America’s never been a racist country. We’ve heard the vice president [Kamala Harris] say that before. We’ve heard Jim Clyburn say that before. We’ve heard Tim Scott say that before. Why can’t Democrats and Republicans just be honest and tell people, hey, we can’t have honest conversations about racism in this country because it’s not a good electoral strategy,” Charlamagne said, noting both Democrats and Republicans use the phrasing.
“I mean, that’s not why I do it,” Haley replied.
“That’s why,” Charlamagne shot back.
“That’s why everybody does it,” he added as Haley protested.
“I have talked about. Look, I have talked about racism as it affected me and how we need to get past it. I mean, keep in mind,” Haley continued as Charlamagne interjected:
But, you can’t talk about it and say America has never been, you can’t say America has never been a racist country. We didn’t talk about the racism you experienced.
“There is racism in our country. I don’t think that our country was founded to be racist. I don’t. I think that it was meant to be this amazing experiment to see if we could have freedom and democracy in a way that all men are created equal,” Haley responded, clarifying her point.
“But if you didn’t look at all men as equal from the beginning, then the ideology is flawed,” Charlamagne rebutted.
“But why do you want kids to hear that they live in a racist country? Why can’t you tell kids? Look, we’re not perfect, and we have some more things to fix. I just I don’t want any child to think like that. I don’t want any child to believe that their disadvantaged from the second they’re born. I didn’t want to feel that,” replied Haley.
“I don’t think it’s a disadvantage. I think if you tell somebody. I think if you tell somebody, it’s cold outside, you just that. Just make them put on a coat,” replied Charlamagne.
“No, it makes them. It makes them know what its going to feel like before they even get outside,” said Haley.
DJ Envy jumped in and said he wants his Black sons to be ready to face the real world. Haley agreed, and added, “We have racism and it is terrible.” She then vowed to fight it at all costs, but went back to her initial point, saying, “I don’t want kids being raised to think they are never going to get past it.”
Watch the clip above.
