If there’s one thing most conservatives can agree on regarding what they’d like to see in the 2024 Republican presidential nominee it is someone who will unapologetically fight tooth and nail against wokeness in all its toxic forms and Corporate America’s supporting role in fostering its insidious spread into the classroom, the workplace, the courtroom, the newsroom, the scientific community, the U.S. military, and beyond.
So imagine the surprise of many to see purported anti-woke 2024 GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who was the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. under then-President Donald Trump, come out in support of Disney over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during an appearance on Fox News Tuesday.
During her interview, Haley was asked about the lawsuit Disney filed yesterday against DeSantis, which alleges “a targeted campaign of government retaliation” that Disney says “threatens Disney’s business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights.”
Haley’s response was to frame the issue from a business perspective, touting what she says was her record as South Carolina’s governor when it came to attracting businesses to the state (transcribed from video):
“You know, as governor, I took a double-digit unemployment state and I turned it into an economic powerhouse. Businesses were my partners, because if you take care of your businesses, you take care of your economy – your economy takes care of the people and everyone wins. And so that’s the way we dealt with it.South Carolina was a very anti-woke state and still is. If Disney would like to move their hundreds of thousands of jobs to South Carolina and bring the billions of dollars with them, I’ll let them know I’ll be happy to meet them in South Carolina and introduce them to the governor and the legislature that would welcome it.”
In a tweet on the matter, Haley ripped a page straight out of the Trump campaign playbook when it comes to referring to DeSantis, writing that, “SC’s not woke, but we’re not sanctimonious about it either.”
Watch:
I literally cringed when I watched the video and read the tweet. All I could think was “Why? Why?”
I get that primary campaigns are about each candidate carving out a lane among people who presumably are for the most part like-minded on the important issues that matter to voters. I also get that the occasional jabs are going to be thrown, and that such jabs will definitely become more frequent and punishing the closer we get to the actual primaries.
But on this, in what should be the defining issue for any Republican presidential campaign that wants to see a healthy degree of success — this is what Haley came up with? Making it about business and jobs and tax dollars and not about understanding how Disney took a lead role in trying to get a Florida law that was designed to protect children in public school classrooms from being taught sexually explicit lessons repealed or struck down?
I mean it was like the kids’ glove version of what Trump said when he blasted DeSantis over his war with Disney, so much so that it had me (and other conservatives) wondering if this wasn’t Haley actually angling for a vice-presidential nod from Trump who, last I checked, did not have the time of day for Haley anymore considering how often she’s flip-flopped in her opinions of him.
The reaction on Twitter among conservatives including prominent conservative voices like Dana Loesch and Mark Levin seemed to be almost universal that this was a seriously bad move for Haley, with some declaring her presidential candidacy over:
The pro-DeSantis “Never Back Down” SuperPAC had this response to Haley’s comments:
DeSantis’ office had one of their own:
This guy pretty much summed up what a lot of conservatives I saw were thinking with one exception:
While it’s true DeSantis has won a lot of battles against the implementation of CRT and the trans agenda during his time as governor, he’s not the only Republican candidate (or presumptive candidate) who stands out as solidly anti-woke.
Tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, author of “Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam” has some pretty solid anti-woke creds as well, which the nation got a good preview of during the now-infamous segment between him and CNN’s Don Lemon, which was said to be the straw that broke the camel’s back for CNN higher-ups, who fired Lemon Monday.
There will be other anti-woke GOP candidates who come along, but assuming former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie throws his hat into the ring, he won’t be one of them considering his suggestion that DeSantis’ actions towards Disney were not what a conservative would do, as if Christie has any experience whatsoever than being a body man for Trump and who, like Haley, flops like a fish on Trump when it suits his purposes.
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson ain’t it, either. ‘Nuff said there.
To reiterate the point I made at the beginning of this post, whoever the eventual GOP presidential nominee is has to be willing and eager to go the distance when it comes to fighting against the worst elements of what the Democratic party has in mind for the future of this country. I mean this is, in my opinion, a non-negotiable thing.
It doesn’t matter if the name is Trump, Haley, Christie, or whoever. If they can’t see that we’re in an existential fight for the soul of this country and then unequivocally commit to standing against wokeness, then they are – in my view – not worthy of leading it.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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