DEBJYOTI DWIVEDY: Dems, Media Attack Nikki Haley For Being What They Fear Most — A Smart, Conservative Woman Of Color

DEBJYOTI DWIVEDY: Dems, Media Attack Nikki Haley For Being What They Fear Most — A Smart, Conservative Woman Of Color

Debjyoti Dwivedy on August 29, 2023

Editor’s note: Big Tent Ideas always aims to provide balancing perspectives on the hottest issues of the day. Below is a column from Minnesota local official Debjyoti Dwivedy arguing that Nikki Haley’s identity is weaponized against her by Democrats and the media because she is a formidable candidate. You can find a counterpoint here, where Hadley Heath Manning of the Independent Women’s Forum argues that Haley should focus on her accomplishments rather than her identity as she seeks the GOP nomination.

“We were the only Indian family. We weren’t white enough to be white, we weren’t Black enough to be Black. They didn’t know who we were, what we were, or why we were there.” This is the way 2024 presidential candidate Nikki Haley described her upbringing in South Carolina.

For a lot of Indian Americans, it’s a description that feels all too familiar. You’re not white, you’re not Black, and while you fit the geographical definition of being Asian, you don’t fit the Americanized definition of it either. Most of the time, no one seems to know where you belong. In many respects, it’s indicative of how Democrats and the media have treated Ambassador Haley’s candidacy for president.

You know what’s a hard pill for the media and many Democrats to swallow? The fact that Former Governor of South Carolina & U.S. Ambassador to United Nations, Nikki Haley, is a woman of color and a leading voice within the Republican Party. Not only does her role in our party and her candidacy demolish the left’s need for identity politics and their hold on communities of color, but her very presence dismantles arguments made by pundits and talking heads on cable news who will do everything in their power to make it appear as if the GOP wants nothing to do with immigrants and BIPOC communities.

So, what do they do? They find subtle ways to diminish her as a person and ignore the real threat she poses as a candidate for president. The most recent example came after her Town Hall in Iowa, when CNN commentator Bakari Sellers described her as “a white governor from the deep south.” It’s an argument Indian Americans would expect to have about the caste system in India or an eligibility for citizenship before the U.S. Supreme Court during the early 1900s, not one we expect to have on CNN in the year 2023 about an Indian American woman running for president.

But it’s not the first time we’ve seen this level of diminishment of her career or potency as a candidate. We all remember when Don Lemon said Ambassador Haley was “past her prime,” after she rightfully questioned whether Joe Biden could complete a second term. Can you imagine if they ever treated Kamala Harris this way?

You’re thinking back and realizing rather quickly that they never treated the Democrats’ current VP this way. In fact, when Harris announced her initial run for the White House, The Washington Post said she was trying “to break several barriers.” The Los Angeles Times referred to her as “the only major candidate of Indian descent.” She had profiles written about her in Vogue India, and was largely heralded as a “daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants’ who “defines herself as ‘American’” as The Washington Post put in another article.

How is Harris’s story any different than Nikki Haley’s? The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley worked her way up from the South Carolina state legislature to governor, where she turned a deficit into a surplus, made historic changes that brought communities together, and made the state an economic powerhouse, “the beast of the south-east.” She took her talents to the United Nations, where she stood up to our enemies, held our allies accountable, and ensured the United States remained a key player and powerbroker on the global stage. Yet, it’s not glowing profiles you find online about her, instead questions about her “whiteness” and “age” are what lead the headlines.

While the contrast between the media’s portrayal of Ambassador Haley and Vice President Harris is striking, it’s not surprising when you remember the way they, along with Democrats, treated Justice Clarence Thomas and Dr. Ben Carson. Justice Thomas was excluded from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in favor of Anita Hill, and Dr. Carson was deemed unqualified for HUD Secretary by Democrats who offered the same position to Julian Castro two years earlier. While other GOP candidates, who make up the most diverse field of presidential contenders on any side of the aisle, would face many of the same castigations Justice Thomas or Dr. Carson have faced, Haley experiences another level of scrutiny when you consider the treatment of conservative women who are often treated differently compared to their Democrat counterparts. Haley, as the only Republican woman on that stage, would be subjected to a level of scrutiny and disparagement from the left that no other candidate seeking the nomination would face.

As they failed to do with Black conservatives in races past, it’s time for the media and pundits alike to confront their failures and treat Republican and Democrat candidates of color alike. If the media did its job and treated Ambassador Haley the same way they treated Kamala Harris’ 2019 bid for president, not only would the quality of debate on the issues improve in the race for 2024, but Americans would have the opportunity to thoroughly vet candidates which emboldens our vibrant democracy, not the media-driven narrative that silos candidates off from the process.

Debjoyti Dwivedy is a serviceman and Minnesota officer holder who is supporting Nikki Haley’s candidacy for President of the United States.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.