Don’t think about the two older white men likely to be at the top of the November presidential tickets. Focus on when they inevitably depart the stage.
That future of American politics starts Sept. 24 with two women on the vice-presidential debate stage at Lafayette College.
It is likely to be a contest between two women of color, two daughters of brown-skinned immigrants — Vice President Kamala Harris (D) and Nikki Haley (R), the former governor of South Carolina.
Already, that prospect is threatening to some people, especially on the right.
Trump-loving provocateurs on conservative social media get a laugh out of calling the former governor by her full name — "Nimarata Nikki Randhawa Haley."
Is this the new version of conservative media’s 2008 use of the full name of the Democrats' presidential candidate “Barack Hussein Obama”? In both cases, the ugly suggestion is that Obama and Haley are not aligned with the values of “real” patriots, particularly Trump-loving Republicans.
Never forget that Donald Trump built his brand as a Republican presidential contender on the racist lie that the first Black president was not born in America. He even said he sent his private investigators to Hawaii to find evidence that Obama wasn’t born there.
That ugly trait remains among some of his backers. Note that a significant portion of Trump's base is made up of older, white people without a college education.
As one Iowan told a reporter about her views of Vivek Ramaswamy before he dropped out of the race last week: "I’m not being prejudiced, guys, but I don’t like his name. I don’t like where he came from. After 9/11, I still harbor a lot of hard feelings."
Despite that ugly attitude, Haley has vaulted herself into contention to be Trump’s running mate.
Haley caught the Trump camp’s attention as her poll numbers went up after she smacked down Ramaswamy and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) with deft performances in the GOP primary debates.
Those showings marked her as a winner in debates, despite Trump’s current insulting nickname for her — “birdbrain.”
She says she will support Trump if he becomes the Republican nominee.
At the moment Haley’s main competition to be Trump’s running mate comes from other women. They include Kari Lake (R), the brash, losing 2022 candidate for governor in Arizona; Kristi Noem, the hard-right governor of South Dakota, and rising House star Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.).
The four are competing for a very different job than the one filled by former Indiana Governor Mike Pence when he joined Trump’s ticket in 2016. Pence was picked to reassure Christian conservative voters that Trump, the New Yorker with three marriages, could be counted on to deliver the evangelical agenda, especially ending abortion rights.
This time, Trump wants a woman to reassure independent, college-educated, suburban women voters that, despite having appointed the court that ended abortion as a constitutional right, he is still their friend.
But that running mate also has to slash at Trump’s perceived enemies, starting with the media, the government and the judicial system. She also has to defend his lies about the last election being stolen from him.
In other words, he wants a Spiro Agnew to play opposite his version of Richard Nixon.
That’s why, if Haley gets to be his running mate, there will be no "Kumbaya," moments among the women on the debate stage.
Haley is sure to be reminded by Harris that she foolishly refused to say last month that slavery was the cause of the Civil War. Haley doubled down on that remark last week when she declared that “America never has been a racist country.”
Harris has already responded.
"The issue of race in America is not something that should be the subject of a sound bite…but there is no denying that we have, in our history as a nation, racism, and that racism has played a role in the history of our nation."
Harris also is sure to challenge Trump and Haley on abortion.
Haley supports a six-week abortion ban. She has praised Trump’s Supreme Court nominees, all of whom voted to overturn constitutional protection for abortion rights.
“One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to believe the government shouldn’t be telling women what to do…with their bodies,” Harris has said.
With Haley poised to finish second to Trump in tomorrow’s New Hampshire primary — after a third-place finish in Iowa — Haley has staked her claim as a future leader of the Republican Party, if not as its 2024 presidential nominee.
A 2024 vice presidential debate between Haley and Harris would mark a historic milestone in American politics, showcasing the diversity of voices and experiences within the political sphere.
This represents a significant step forward in challenging preconceived notions about who holds power and influence in American politics.
We’ve come a long way from the first televised presidential debate of 1960, where two white men were broadcast in monotones.
So set your calendars for Sept. 24 at Lafayette college for the vice presidential debate. The smart money is on Haley and Harris to be there. Their performances are already defining the future of American politics.
Juan Williams is an author and a political analyst for Fox News Channel, and author of “What the Hell Do You Have to Lose?”
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