CNN anchor Jake Tapper said the several repeated attacks against Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley have shown a “very ugly side” of the political left.
Tapper and the panel responded to New York Times opinion writer Wajahat Ali telling MSNBC Sunday that Haley uses her race as a “weapon” against lower income minorities and to “launder white supremacist talking points.” The panel said these “terrible” attacks will only benefit Haley, and argued they are not fair criticisms.
“You see some people on the left noting that Nikki is not her original first name, I think it’s her middle name, and it’s not true. These are the same people who objected to whenever Republicans would say Barack Hussein Obama. There is a very ugly side of the left that comes out when Nikki Haley runs for office,” Tapper said.
Haley has been falsely accused of going by her legal middle name rather than her full name, Nimrata Nikki Haley, to hide her Indian heritage and of using her “brown skin” as a political tool. “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin notably accused Haley of purposely hiding her legal first name in September, though Haley has repeatedly said that “Nikki” is a popular name in Punjab, the region of India her parents emigrated from. (RELATED: ‘What Are You Talking…’: CNN Anchor Jumps In After Don Lemon Suggests Women Have A ‘Prime’ Age)
National Review editor Ramesh Ponnuru said these attacks “play into [Haley’s] hands” by giving her the privilege to say liberals attack her for being a conservative minority. Democratic strategist Paul Begala agreed, arguing that she should only be judged for her ideas, not her skin color.
“Let’s just take her based on her ideas and I might not like them as a Democrat, Republicans might,” Begala said. “But I think it’s a terrible thing to say about her.”
Haley has repeatedly said that she makes “liberals’ heads explode” as they cannot stand that she is a conservative person of color. She also accused liberals of being the “most sexist” after CNN anchor Don Lemon said she is past her “prime.”