Nikki Haley Scolds Republicans Over Kamala Harris 'DEI' Attacks

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley cautioned fellow Republicans over their “DEI” attacks toward Vice President Kamala Harris in the days since President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid.

“It’s not helpful. It’s not helpful,” the former U.N. ambassador told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday.

Haley’s remarks arrive after GOP lawmakers used Harris’ race and gender to label the vice president as a “DEI hire” or candidate including Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who later said he regretted the attack despite it being “the truth.”

The attacks come as Republicans have turned diversity, equity and inclusion policies and initiatives into a bogeyman over the past year and change.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has since called on GOP lawmakers to focus on policies rather than “personalities” ahead of the election in November.

“This is not personal regarding Kamala Harris,” said Johnson at a press conference on Tuesday. “Her ethnicity and her gender have nothing to do with this whatsoever. This is about who can deliver for the American people and get us out of the mess that we’re in.”

Haley, who recently backed former President Donald Trump in a speech at the Republican National Convention, told Tapper that Harris is a “liberal senator who literally has not accomplished very much” and “didn’t do much” with what she was given.

“You don’t need to talk about what she looks like or what gender she is to talk about that,” she said of the first woman, Black person and person of South Asian descent to be VP.

“The American people are smarter than that.”