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Donald Trump’s birther offensive against Nikki Haley began with relative subtlety. In fact, the likely Republican nominee didn’t even write or say the message he wanted the public to see.
Two weeks ago, the former president used his social media platform to promote an argument from someone claiming that Haley was ineligible because her parents were not U.S. citizens when she was born. The pitch was meritless — the former ambassador was born in the United States, and under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, that makes her a natural-born citizen — but it was a sign of things to come.
A week later, Trump was more direct, calling Haley “Nimrada” — a likely deliberate misspelling combining her given name, Nimarata Nikki Randhawa, and “Nimrod.” By Friday, the former president apparently thought it’d be clever to start referring to his GOP rival as “Nimbra.”
Fox News’ Bret Baier asked Trump about this over the weekend. “It’s just something that came,” the candidate said. “It’s a little bit of a takeoff on her name. You know, her name, wherever she may come from.”
Asked what he meant by that, the former president didn’t answer the question directly, instead praising himself for coming up with racist nicknames.
Of course, there’s nothing admirable about concocting racist nicknames, and Trump made matters worse by adding “wherever she may come from.”
He knows full well where she comes from. But he makes comments like these — always about people from communities of color — in the hopes that his party’s rabid base will look askance at those who stand in his way.
As we discussed a couple of weeks ago, Trump went after Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas with a birther attack around this time in the 2016 election cycle. A month later, in an incident that went largely forgotten, Trump briefly questioned Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida with a similar line of attack. Four years ago, the then-president even went after then-Sen. Kamala Harris with yet another birther offensive.
All of this was preceded, of course, by Trump’s birther offensive against Barack Obama.
For the likely Republican nominee, the vision is unsubtle. There’s an “us” and a “them.” When assessing critics, rivals, and opponents, those he considers to be white belong with the former, and those from communities of color belong with the latter.
In theory, some prominent GOP voices will make clear that they have a problem with this. In practice, no one should hold their breath.