Outgoing U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley insisted Thursday night that "in America, our political opponents are not evil," a shar[p] rhetorical break from her boss, President Donald Trump, who has labeled Democrats as "evil," crime-loving and unwilling to defend the nation.
Addressing the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York, Haley said that the "toxic political environment" has prompted both sides of the aisle to "describe their opponents as enemies or evil."
... Haley's statement was an apparent rebuke of language used by Trump on the campaign trail in recent weeks, especially in the wake of the contentious confirmation battle over Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Disarray? No. Pay attention to what doesn't happen next: There won't be half a dozen Republican politicians and strategists racing to tell reporters or their Twitter followers that this is outrageous!, that it's less than three weeks before the midterms and why can't Republicans stay focused? There won't be a cascade of conservative media op-eds denouncing Haley and asking why she won't go away.
There won't be this:
Or this:
Or this:
I know Haley's words were fairly mild. I also know that she’s not as prominent as Clinton or Warren. But she is considered a rising star in her party, and when she announced her resignation from her UN job she had to declare that she won’t run against the president in 2020.
Republicans used to eat their own. In the Tea Party years there was great contempt for “RINOs.” Quite a few were hounded out of office, and in the past two years Trump skeptics in the Senate have been subjected to the same treatment.
But right now Republicans are united, and we’re not.
The anger at Clinton and Warren, because they allegedly did so much damage to Democrats’ chances in 2018, just isn’t borne out by the facts. Notice how the president describes the GOP message for the next couple of weeks:
President Trump Thursday framed November’s midterm elections as a referendum a range hot-button issues that have been central to his administration’s pitch to voters.
“This will be an election of Kavanaugh, the caravan, law and order and common sense,” he said at a campaign rally in Montana.
Warren has been mocked by Republicans, but she’s not a principal target – it’s all about Kavanaugh, immigration, and left-leaning “mobs.” Yes, Hillary Clinton spoke in an allegedly uncivil way once recently, but the GOP message isn’t stressing her statement. Notice that neither she nor Warren appears in this ad running in Minnesota’s First Congressional District:
Republicans have come together at just the right time. It would be nice if Democrats could learn from their example.
Crossposted at No More Mr. Nice Blog
