 Presidential candidate Nikki Haley was asked to clarify her statement that America was never a racist country and her answer is going viral. Yeah, let's run the clip from CNN, then we're going to play Kamala Harris' response, and then we are going to play another response from a black conservative political consultant. I want to ask you about a comment you made earlier this week. You said that America has, quote, never been a racist country. When you look at, you know, the Declaration of Independence, it was that, you know, men are created equal. But what I look at it as is I was a brown girl that grew up in a small rural town. We had plenty of racism that we had to deal with. But my parents never said we lived in a racist country. And I'm so thankful they didn't. Because for every brown and black child out there, if you tell them they live or born in a racist country, you're immediately telling them they don't have a chance. And my parents would always say you may have challenges. And yes, there will be people who are racist, but that doesn't define what you can do in this country. You're talking about the ideals of America. But America was founded institutionally on many racist precepts, including slavery. But when you look at said all men are created equal, I think the intent, the intent was to do the right thing. Now, did they have to go fix it along the way? Yes, but I don't think the intent was ever that we were going to be a racist country. The intent was everybody was going to be created equally. And as we went through time, they fixed the things that were not all men are created equal. They made sure women became equal too. All of these things happen over time. But I refuse to believe that the premise of when they formed our country was based on the fact that it was a racist country to start with. Racism has played a role in the history of our nation. And when I think about it, I think we all would agree that while it is part of our past and we see vestiges of it today, we should also be committed collectively to not letting it define the future of our country. Is that really what they meant? That's what they meant, perhaps philosophically, theoretically speaking, but that wasn't what the reality was, right? But the Republican Party and Jonah were just talking about this. I mean, racially speaking, we are a pretty homogenous party. It is the facts. We're not Democrats. Boom, Andrew! This is some of the most viral news. I'm talking about multiple platforms, millions of people discussing this right now. Alright, we're going to talk about it, guys. We'll give you our view. And I'll even give you what I think Nikki Haley should have said. This is just my opinion. You know, I'm not a strategist, just a person who kind of talks about this stuff a lot. So please hit that like button. Check out other episodes of the hotpot boys. Check out Smala Sauce. This is not controversial. Nikki Haley cannot say anything weird about this because it's delicious. Check out Smala Sauce. Andrew, it's 2024 and this is the most viral political headline. It's a super baseline question, but even in Kamala Harris's response, she said the issue of race in America is not something that probably should be the subject of a soundbite or get a one-sentence answer. Right, right. I think that here, I understand why they asked this question because Nikki Haley had made this previous statement, so he's asking to clarify it. And I thought she would be more prepared even though I don't think this should be determining whether she gets the vice president or presidency on the Republican side or whatever, you know what I mean? I don't think this should be a defining answer, but it is an answer that is kind of testing her like jumpiness and kind of how shookish she is. You know, it's interesting. Every politician, Andrew, they have strong spots and they have weak spots. Clearly talking about race is one of Nikki Haley's real name, Nimrata Randawa's weak spots. I thought she would have had a better answer because apparently, I mean, she does talk about her race. Sometimes she brings up, you know, I was a brown girl in America. My family faced some racism. I thought she would have had this. She sounded kind of, it was kind of a convoluted answer. Right, because she goes, America is not a racist country. It's never been as racist country. Me and my family went through plenty of racism growing up in the Carolinas or whatever. Oh, yeah. Anyways, we'll go through the comment section, what other people think, and then we'll go through what she could have said. All right. Do you think that she was just trying to avoid getting trapped by CNN? She felt like they had her in a corner. She was trying to duck and dodge like a boxer out of the corner, but she didn't slip the punches right. Well, you know, like this guy who's a Republican, black Republican strategist, he basically says, yes, we kind of know what she's trying to say, but basically to get the Republican vote. The last thing you want to do is make Republicans feel racist. Donald Trump made the Republican base not feel racist. Therefore, he gets the votes because Republicans, they don't want to be lectured about race and they don't want to feel bad all the time. Right, because the majority of Republicans are what, rural white people. A lot of them are white people. That's the majority of Republicans. It's true, but white people don't always want to feel racist all the time. And so by Nikki, if she were to go too deep into it, she might be lecturing people and stuff like that, and then that's going to be a turn off. You know, I'm sure that like her response, there was some political calculation around it, but she just messed up the execution probably, right? Yeah. But she made herself look like Kamala talking about foreign policy. Kamala was way better talking about race, honestly. She did a good job. I just want somebody to ask Nikki Haley if she considers herself Asian. You know how no one's asked her if she's Asian? People have said, oh, you're of Indian descent. You are brown. She said she's brown. She's a minority. She's a colored person, but no one's ever asked her, hey, Nikki Haley, do you consider yourself Asian? I don't think she would. I don't think she would, especially because she's white passing. And what I've noticed about like people from India is like some do identify with that and some don't. Hasan Manaj does. And Kamala was on the view and they referred to her crazy enough as Southeast Asian. Which is actually not the right term. I just don't think they knew what to say, right? Right. So even the view, guys, which is what I would say, probably a lot of liberals or Democrats on the view, they still call their Southeast Asian. Sakramam is kind of like... No, they call their Southeast Asian, which is not the correct term. I don't even think that they know too much about Asia on the view, to be honest. But anyway, let's just get into the comments section, Andrew. This guy just said, are some of the people in the U.S. racist? Of course. Is everyone racist? Of course not. Were we ever a racist country? Of course. Labor was legal and accepted by half the country. Is this country less racist now than it was 50 years ago? Of course. Does racism still exist? Of course. So why are we having a debate about something that doesn't even have a clear definition? Let's define the question before debating it. Was CNN, which is more liberal asking her a trap question, she fell for the trap? And now this thing went hyper viral? I don't even know how bad of a trap question it was, because they did literally ask her to clarify a statement that she said before. That's not technically a trap. She just had to define it and just give a better answer. I think that she is good at talking about the subject she knows a lot about and the subject that she's not prepared to. Clearly she gave like a 3 out of 10 answer. She's like, well, you know, that's not what in this thing it was written. And that's not what it was meant to be. And my family did face racism though. I was like, what? Her campaign issued a correction. They said America has always had racism, but America has never been a racist country. That is their official stance on it now. See, but now even that now you're talking about worrying and like, what does it mean that not wouldn't out now? Does it should America be defined by its racism? I could see no. Was that the point she was trying to make? But she could have just said that. How hard was that? Nikki to just say, Hey, you know what? There was wrong doings in the past. There was racism. There was racism in America. And to this day there is still she sounded like we've done so much better and we have made so much progress. And we, and it should not be the focus of America. That is not what America is defined by. That would have been a good answer. Yeah. She sounded like a high schooler that was completely lying for her friend that did something super against the rules. Let's go in the comment section. Somebody says, says the white passing Indian woman. She also says, I used to be a brown girl. Cause oh wait, cause you're not a brown girl now. You're a white girl now because a lot of people are talking about how she was born in Rata Rondawa. Then of course she married somebody with the last name Haley takes her middle name. And basically saying that she is fully acquired the white privilege of not recognizing racism. Even though in her book, her autobiography, she talked about how her dad could only become a professor at HBCU. Because as an Indian guy, he couldn't get a job at a white, at a mainstream college because her dad was a professor. So clearly race, racism is even part of her family's past in America. Yes. So she was just like, so everybody was like, this goes to show you that some minorities, once they gain white status, it's almost like their whole thing is to maintain that elite status. I can't understand that even for Republicans, she could have told a quick story and it would have just made a lot more sense. Yeah. How much do you think it is that because of how she looks, she can pass for white because a lot of people were comparing her to my big fat Greek weddings main actress, Nia Vardalos, who's Greek, saying that she essentially looks almost exactly like her. And Nia Vardalos, the actress actually was supposed to put in talks with SNL to play Nikki Haley or an ass. Of course, and a lot of black people, black Americans were very unhappy. Yeah. You know, I'm talking about like, yeah, thousands and thousands of comments. Do you think for sure that this is gonna, because there had been a trend in the black community to go a little bit more right. But then now it's almost like, could this shift it back? I don't know if this is shifting everything, but I think this is turning off some people for her, maybe not the party. I don't know. But I just think that it shows that she, it's true that this shouldn't define like these type of questions. It's not the most important question to answer. But regardless, she could have just had a way better answer. Right, right, right. And then for her to not have a better answer and to fumble that is like kind of says something about her as a whole. I was talking to a upper middle class or a little bit wealthy Asian guy, I know. And he told me Andrew that he identifies ideologically as a Republican, but he told me he would never vote for Republicans because he feels like the party is too racist. So I feel like that is showing that that's a pretty telling thing that a lot of some minorities that make a lot of money feel that way. Well, because there are some real, I'm not saying every Republicans racist, but there are some very super, super racist Republicans like politicians that are still like alive. Right. So yeah, I guess if you're on their team, what is that saying? Somebody was saying Nimrata Nikki, no, Nimrata Nikki Rondawa Haley goes by Nikki Haley. But let me guess America isn't a racist country. So everybody was saying, how come she converted to religion? Why did she convert her name? And why did she even check white on one of her old voter census sheets if she's like so proud of being brown? You know, Nikki Haley and dealing with race is just definitely a recipe for confusion, to be honest. Is it because she has some Rachel Dozeal like things, but instead of morphing to become a minority, she morphed to be white. Yeah, she doesn't know what she is. She hasn't decided what she is and she can't stand by it. So it is weird. Some people are saying drunk people intend to drive home safely. It doesn't matter what your intentions are. Your actions speak louder than your words. Obviously speaking on America's intention, because that's what Nikki Haley was referring a lot to the intention of the Constitution and these different rights and things like that. Bill of rights. But it's all about the actions and the actions of America are racist. Right, right, right. I guess, David, how would you wrap it up? I mean, is this the most important thing? Was it just something that Nikki fumbled? She didn't have to fumble it that bad. How much do you think it's going to affect her this clip? Or is it overblown? It's not over. All right. So first of all, I will agree with Kamala in the sense that this question was kind of a ridiculous question. Although CNN was more fair in asking it because it was in reference to her previous statement. It's what she did say something like this before. That's why. Right. The way he asked her to be like, so is America a racist country or not? That's a little bit of a leading question. Sure. But at the end of the day, the way she handled it, I give her like a two out of 10. Long story short, do I agree that America should be defined by its racism in 2024? I think there's a lot of other issues that are really important too about where is America headed. But yeah, I do think America is a racist country. Oh, I actually do think that. Yeah. But I just don't know how, what is the point of talking about it? Shouldn't we be talking about policies or systems enacted to try to rectify things? I mean, I think America has a lot of things. You know, it's like a big country. It's a new country and has a racist past. A lot of racism in America. America sends a lot of peacekeepers, but America also fought a lot of wars. Drops a lot of bombs. Yeah. Drops a lot of bombs. And it gives aid to Africa. But you could say then what is America good, but Europe was bad because Europe split up Africa. Do you know what I'm saying? Like it's so like crazy. Like, like you said, these huge countries, they do a lot. They do a lot of good and they do a lot of bad. And sometimes it really depends on even like what side of the coin you end up on. I don't, the way I define America is not with the R word. Because I just, I think like to define America by one word, that being the word doesn't make a lot of sense. There are a lot of countries racist, even in a country like Japan where it's technically one culture. Like if you are Riku and Andrew, which is Okinawan, you're outside of the mainstream. I just wouldn't define America by that one word. I don't think that does any good, even though there's some truth to it. I just wouldn't. It doesn't do any good. That's why. And I think maybe. Do you think that's what she should have said? Hey, yes it is, but let's just not say that. For her, the president doesn't, yeah, I don't know if it's the biggest issue for the president. But anyways, guys, let us know what you think in the comments down below. Do you think her answer made any sense at all of what she was trying to say? I think everybody agrees it was worded terribly. And it was a terrible answer, but does it make any sense? So anyways, let us know in the comments down below, guys. Listen. I don't know if she would claim Asian, but partly why we talk about her is because she is South Asian. Technically, technically Asian. I've seen that the, I never saw Vivek call himself Asian either. But they're from the political world. It's different. It's different. They don't want. If they were in STEM in the Bay Area, all drinking bobas together, but the Indians are getting the taro boba. The Southeast Asian is getting the Thai tea in the East Asian getting the regular green tea matcha. They probably all Asian. I think if they had the accent, they're saying they're Asian. It depends on what field they're in. In politics, it helps to not be Asian because people don't trust Asians. Anyway, guys, let us know what you think in the comments section below. Until next time, we're going to hop up. Boys, we out. Peace.