sorry but why was nikki haley on snl

alas, platforming the mocked absolves the mockery

Back in December, on a train to Milan in which my mother was convinced to have seen Colin Firth, I started writing a newsletter about Nikki Haley’s new claim to fame: her inability to confirm, in the year 2024, that slavery was the, or even a, cause of the Civil War. When asked at a town hall, Haley — famously the former governor of South Carolina who famously changed her husband's name from Bill to Michael — decided to instead give the classic well you have to consider states' rights, ackshually response that embodied the spirit of every Clemson Devil's Advocate I've ever had the misfortune to meet. 

Asked during a Wednesday night town hall in Berlin, New Hampshire, what she believed had caused the war — the first shots of which were fired in her home state of South Carolina — Haley talked about the role of government, replying that it involved “the freedoms of what people could and couldn’t do.” (PBS)

It was the kind of insane answer to a simple question that would, in past elections, have seriously jeopardized a candidate's campaign. A bygone era where shame and consequences occasionally coexisted.

I left the aforementioned newsletter to languish in my drafts, both because I was on vacation (see Italy; Colin Firth) and because plenty of people were already writing about Haley's "gaffe" (will the political euphemisms ever stop?).    

But the Federalist Society-approved response to the Civil War question did not surprise me. Despite the cutesy sweaters and prim dresses used to soften her image (using, of course, the same misogyny that leads folks to believe in the intrinsic softness and morality of traditional femininity), Haley is as conservative as they come. She has historically supported strict bans on abortion, is cruelly harsh on immigration, posits that Florida's "don't say gay" bill does not go far enough, and has a staunchly anti-labor record, happily calling herself a union-buster. Yes, in this economy.

Patriotism! But only when it can win us votes. (Photo: Getty Images)

But I really thought — if not hoped, like the optimist that I sometimes am — that the Civil War moment would at least serve as a necessary reminder to the electorate, press, and related television shows, though, that despite her carefully projected image meant to appeal to a more moderate voter (

Elizabeth Holmes

of

So Many Thoughts

recently did a helpful piece on Haley's campaign trail fashion), Haley remains quite committed to the GOP's increasingly conservative platform. 

Alas. That reminder, apparently, did not reach Saturday Night Live in time for this weekend's show.