The left’s identity politics went to disgusting lows during CNN’s night one analysis of the Republican National Convention. Both shoddy CNN host Jake Tapper and senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson proved how vile they could be when they accused Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), who's black, and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who's an Indian-American woman, of being tokens for a white and racist party.
The racist undertones started immediately after Scott concluded the first night with his inspirational address. With host Wolf Blitzer acknowledging the GOP was being uplifting and trying to expand the base with their selection of speakers, Tapper denounced the showing as being TOO diverse and unrepresentative of the party:
In terms of what the Republicans were accomplishing this evening, what they tried to accomplish, you are right, Wolf, I think they definitely were trying to appeal to the base. Obviously, they were showing a lot of diversity in the people that they had speak this evening.
It's not representative of the Republican party as a whole, certainly not representative of the Republican Party or the Trump administration here in Washington D.C.
Just six minutes later, Henderson was on and ranting about racism. Covering up the fact that radical, Marxist Black Lives Matter protesters had broken into their private community and threatened to burn down their home and kill their dog, Henderson smeared St.Louis couple Mark and Patricia McCloskey as people who represented “the fear of black and brown people, fear of poor people.”
Henderson then accused Scott and Haley of being racial tokens for the GOP to help white people feel better about voting for the party:
And that ran throughout this entire convention, this idea that the Democrats, who again are a very diverse party, now they have an African-American and an Indian woman in the number two slot. That is the fear that they are conjuring up.
Tim Scott there, I think he's, on the one hand, trying to reach out to black voters, but I think he's also there to give white voters who might be worried about voting for someone like Donald Trump, who has said all sorts of racist comments. It sort of, I think, Tim Scott and Nikki Haley are there to say, “Listen, maybe Donald Trump isn't as racist as you think he is or as racist as he often sounds because here’s Tim Scott praising him, here’s Nikki Haley praising him, and there are a number of other African-Americans woven thought tonight.”
It was a repulsive display that got repeated later in the hour when host Anderson Cooper teed Henderson up. “How much do you think of some of this tonight was sort of giving permission to more moderate white voters that you know what, it's okay for you to vote for Donald Trump despite his rhetoric on his, you know, some of his racist rhetoric over the last three years,” he wondered.
Henderson was far more blatant with her accusations of tokenism the second time around: “It's sort of an indirect appeal to white voters when you kind of put black issues, black people, black Republicans front and center, as we saw happen tonight.”
She also echoed Tapper’s comments from earlier and tied them in with her own:
Nikki Haley obviously a woman of color and Tim Scott and a couple of other African Americans. I mean, on the whole, the Republican Party actually isn't very diverse. It sort of seemed a little diverse tonight with Tim Scott making that final sort of keynote address and Nikki Haley making a kind of keynote address. But by and large, you know, this is a party that is right now based on sort of white identitarianism…
This ugly racism was only from night one of the Republican National Convention. Imagine how the rest of the week was going to go.
These disgusting, racist comments were made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Amazon, HomeAdviser, and Qunol. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the ugly bigotry they’re funding.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s America's Choice 2020: Republican National Convention: Night 1
August 25, 2020
10:53:31 p.m. EasternWOLF BLITZER: Very strong speech from Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, making the case it was only a generation or two ago that they went from the cotton fields and now he's a United States senator wrapping up the first night in the Republican national convention.
You know Jake, it was interesting, clearly, almost all of the speakers tried to make sure they secure the Republican base for Donald Trump. They want to broaden the base. They showed a lot of diversity in the course of this. And almost all of the speakers painted Joe Biden potentially leading the United States towards a socialist country that would be a disaster, that would ruin the United States of America. And they tried to show Donald Trump as a man of empathy working to, quote, making America great again.
We heard a lot of that.
(…)
JAKE TAPPER: In terms of what the Republicans were accomplishing this evening, what they tried to accomplish, you are right, Wolf, I think they definitely were trying to appeal to the base. Obviously, they were showing a lot of diversity in the people that they had speak this evening.
It's not representative of the Republican party as a whole. Certainly not representative of the Republican Party or the Trump administration here in Washington D.C.
(…)
11:03:53 p.m. Eastern
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON: Yeah, we talk about the cultural war here. Obviously, there is a racial component to it. It's not a coincidence that the McCloskey’s were aiming their guns at people who were Black Lives Matter protesters. So there is this kind of, I think, in some ways, arguments that are in conflict with each another.
On the one hand, they had Tim Scott on there, you had Donald Trump Jr., I think, at some point denounced racism and said, you know, “America needs to end the scourge of racism.” But then you obviously had these other couples there who were talking about this fear that they had. And we know what that fear is about. I mean, this sort of fear of the other, the fear of black and brown people, fear of poor people.
And that ran throughout this entire convention, this idea that the Democrats, who again are very diverse party, now they have an African-American and an Indian woman in the number two slot. That is the fear that they are conjuring up.
Tim Scott there, I think he's on the one hand trying to reach out to black voters, but I think he's also there to give white voters who might be worried about voting for someone like Donald Trump, who has said all sorts of racist comments. It sort of, I think, Tim Scott and Nikki Haley are there to say, “Listen, maybe Donald Trump isn't as racist as you think he is or as racist as he often sounds because here’s Tim Scott praising him, here’s Nikki Haley praising him, and there are a number of other African-Americans woven thought tonight.”
We'll see what else comes over these next couple of days. I thought it was kind of a repetitive the way that everyone kind of stood up there and spoke. There were speeches rather than conversations. I thought with viewers. So, in that way it had a kind of flat effect at least as I was viewing it.
(…)
11:43:24 p.m. Eastern
ANDERSON COOPER: How much do you think of some of this tonight was sort of giving permission to more moderate white voters that you know what, it's okay for you to vote for Donald Trump despite his rhetoric on his, you know, some of his racist rhetoric over the last three years?
HENDERSON: Yeah, I mean, I think that is often what it's about. It's sort of an indirect appeal to white voters when you kind of put black issues, black people, black Republicans front and center, as we saw happen tonight.
Nikki Haley obviously a woman of color and Tim Scott and a couple of other African Americans. I mean, on the whole, the Republican Party actually isn't very diverse. It sort of seemed a little diverse tonight with Tim Scott making that final sort of keynote address and Nikki Haley making a kind of keynote address.
But by and large, you know, this is a party that is right now based on sort of white identitarianism, and is really trying to not only -- we sort of talk about white suburban voters and what they need to hear to feel comfortable being a member of this party. But it's also one of the things you see in the polls is that Trump is also starting to lose support among white working-class voters as well. Biden is doing very well among those voters.
So, you see this idea of illegal immigrants taking your jobs. Black people, who you should be afraid of. You don't want to live in the kind of cities where black people are protesting. So, you know, I mean, we've heard this over and over from this President.
I think it's a little disingenuous for Tim Scott to ignore that because it's certainly something that most voters find problematic. Not just offensive at this point but also something that is starting to affect their daily lives. Because it's in some ways become policy now. Right?
(…)
