Nikki Haley faces escalating racist attacks as she emerges as Trump’s last GOP primary rival

As Nikki Haley emerges as the sole contender challenging Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, she is facing an escalation of racist attacks propagated by Trump and his supporters. These unfounded assaults falsely assert that Haley is ineligible for office because her parents weren’t US citizens at the time of her birth. Haley is a natural born citizen and is of course eligible to run.

ISD Senior Research Analyst Jared Holt spoke to NPR’s All Things Considered about these racist attacks and how Trump picks these kinds of attacks “because they reflect broader attitudes held by his base voters.”

“So this lane of attack against Nikki Haley, I think, can best be understood as an effort to other her in the eyes of people that have that kind of worldview,” he said.

This interview is available on NPR’s website.