As we inch closer to the 2024 presidential election, it’s clear that the GOP will continue to say just about anything to get the Oval back. Republican candidates have dwindled significantly, with Donald Trump being the frontrunner to receive the nomination. Of course, throughout campaigning the Republicans who threw their hats into the ring said ridiculously racist things—and here are the most unbelievable.
Nikki Haley being featured on a Black, liberal radio show like “The Breakfast Club” is bad enough, but she used her time to denied race played a role in the AME Church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. Nine Black parishioners were murdered by white supremacist Dylan Roof. Haley admitted it was about race but added: “But the point was I strong-armed them and said there will be a time we talk about all that. But right now, we have nine souls we need to put to rest. I didn’t have that luxury. Because two days later the killer came out draped in the Confederate flag.” She also blamed Barack Obama for creating racial division during his presidency.
Trump regularly says horribly racist and deplorable things—and has no problem quoting Adolf Hitler when doing so. In December 2023 at a rally in New Hampshire, Trump said that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.” Hitler used similar phrasing in his manifesto “Mein Kampf,” but Trump played dumb and stated he had no idea.
GOP candidates Nikki Haley, Tim Scott and Ron DeSantis have all said versions of “America isn’t and was never racist” during their campaigns—which is a straight up lie. Each received backlash for the comment and tried to minimize their intentions, but the damage has been done.
Vivek Ramaswamy and former CNN host Don Lemon had an intense exchange during on-air interview last year. Ramaswamy insisted that the Civil War secured freedoms, in which Lemon retorted “the whole reason that the civil rights movement happened was because Black people did not secure their freedoms after the Civil War.” Ramaswamy was loud and wrong—his two favorite things to be.
Throughout his Florida governorship and presidential campaign, Ron DeSantis has revised his state’s Board of Education standards to not only erase DEI efforts but claim there was an upside to slavery. The Board of Education approved a new set of rules which required teachers to tell students that “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” This isn’t just racist, it’s literally revisionist history.
During a September 2023 Republican presidential debate, Tim Scott talked about how detrimental welfare was to Black families—and made an anti-Black talking point. “Black families survived slavery!” he said. “We survived poll taxes and literacy tests. What was hard to survive was Johnson’s Great Society, where they decided to put money—where they decided to take the Black father out of the household to get a check in the mail.” Scott and his asinine rhetoric didn’t last long in the race.
After the Supreme Court gutted affirmative action last year, Mike Pence appeared on “Face The Nation” to applaud the decision. He also stated that there is no racial inequality in America’s education system. Furthermore, Pence stated that “affirmative action was necessary simply to open the doors of all of our schools and universities, but I think that time has passed.” Oh, the racist delusion.
In one of his most despicable campaign moves, Vivek Ramaswamy said that Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) was part of the “modern KKK” on CNN’s “State of the Union.” He stated that Pressley is the equivalent to “a modern grand wizard of the KKK” because she frequently speaks out against racist injustice. Ramaswamy just said racist things to say them—which may have been a reason for him dropping out and endorsing Trump.
Donald Trump has made it a point to go after prosecutor Fani Willis who led the Georgia indictment over election interference in 2020. He stated that Willis was out to get him and accused her of prosecutorial misconduct. Trump also called her racist and gave her the “nickname” phony Fani.
In December 2023 at an event in New Hampshire, Nikki Haley was asked what caused the Civil War—and said everything but slavery. Haley responded that she thought the cause “was basically how government was going to run, the freedoms, and what people could and couldn’t do.” She received immense backlash for omitting slavery, but later stated she thought that was a given.
Considering how viciously Trump came after Barack Obama and mocked his heritage throughout his time in the White House, Trump couldn’t wait to make fun of Nikki Haley’s birth name Nimarata. Earlier this month, he insulted her on social media repeatedly by calling her “Nimbra.” Trump also shared conspiracy theories about Haley, who is of Indian descent, being ineligible to run because of her background. Sadly, it’s just another page from his racist playbook.
As Larry Elder campaigned for president throughout 2023, he went to great lengths to disparage Black people to gain the support of racist white voters. Elder often stated that 70% of Black children grow up without fathers—though the number of Black kids living in single-parent homes is less than 60%. His racist script went only so far—he wound up suspending his campaign.
GOP presidential Doug Burgum stated that Donald Trump’s personal attacks on Nikki Haley’s—and her birth name—were fair game in the political world instead of calling it out for the racism that it is. “This is all in the norm for politics in our country. But once we agree as parties, we get behind candidates,” he said. Burgum has also endorsed Trump for a second term as president.
During the fourth Republican presidential debate in December 2023, Vivek Ramaswamy made white supremacists rejoice as he perpetuated right-wing conspiracy theories like the 2020 election being stolen and Jan 6. being an “inside job.” He also said: “The great replacement theory is not some grand right-wing conspiracy theory but a basic statement of the Democratic Party’s platform.” Claiming that Black and brown people will replace white folks is the same rhetoric used by mass shooters and neo-Nazis.
Trump used his presidency to launch a racist and xenophobic attack on immigrants. He continues to double down on this stance during the 2024 campaign trail and promised to conduct the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history” if he is victorious. “There’s never been anything like this. Our country is being invaded. This is an invasion,” Trump recently said at a rally in Hialeah, Florida.
