Van Jones Rips Nikki Haley’s Painful ‘I Had Black Friends’ Defense: ‘She Was Cleaning It Up With a Dirty Rag’
CNN host Van Jones tore into Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s “I had Black friends growing up” defense on Thursday, calling the remark “painful” and comparing it to cleaning up “with a dirty rag.”
During CNN’s town hall, Haley attempted to clean up her previous controversial remarks about the Civil War by mentioning she “had Black friends growing up” in South Carolina.
Following the event, CNN host Abby Phillip said, “‘I had Black friends growing up’ has already been sent out, I should note, by the DeSantis allies, DeSantis campaign online.”
Jones weighed in, “She was cleaning it up with a dirty rag. I mean it wasn’t a cleanup at all. It’s painful; I don’t get it. I think it says something about her; I think it says something about the Republican base.”
He continued, “This should not be hard for a woman of color in this day and age to talk with real power and force about how awful slavery was and how important it is for us as a country to get past it, deal with it, and confront it so we can be better,” before arguing:
I think it says something about the Republican base that she is so afraid that there’s some big number of people that can’t hear that, that she’s got to tiptoe through every tulip she can find and wrap herself around the axle avoiding saying stuff that’s true. I found it painful. I mean, not personally painful, but it’s awkward to watch a grown woman not be able to say what any kindergarten teacher could say, any third grade teacher could say, because there’s either something off about her or about this party that will not be able to speak the truth.
CNN senior political commentator and former Obama senior adviser David Axelrod, CNN political commentator Scott Jennings, and CNN political commentator Alyssa Farah Griffin also criticized Haley’s remarks.
“I think this is a Nikki Haley issue,” said Jennings. “I think it has nothing to do with the Republican base; I just think it has to do with someone who can’t recognize that, look, less is more here, take the L, and move on.”
Griffin, who served in the White House as former President Donald Trump’s communications director, declared, “She did herself no favors, and she kind of put herself back where she was at the beginning of this issue,” before suggesting that Haley might be frightened to alienate “those who might lean towards the white supremacy side of things.”
Axelrod, meanwhile, remarked, “The issue is not ultimately slavery. The issue is her,” noting that Haley “campaigned twice against taking the Confederate flag down when she ran for governor.”
Watch above via CNN.
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