SC Gov. Nikki Haley Warns Divisive Rhetoric Like Donald Trump’s Led to Charleston Church Massacre

Republican Governor Has Been Named Possible Trump Vice Presidential Candidate

Governor Nikki Haley on Thursday warned against divisive rhetoric like Donald Trump uses, noting it led to the massacre of nine parishioners in Charleston almost one year ago. 

“I know what that rhetoric can do. I saw it happen,” Haley told the Associated Press. Haley, a Republican who is often cited as a potential vice presidential candidate, “said divisive speech motivated Dylann Roof to gun down nine black parishioners at historic Emanuel AME Church. Police have said the white 22-year-old charged with their killings wanted to start a race war,” the AP notes.

Haley, a consummate politician, said she doesn’t believe Trump supporters are haters or racists, but they hold “a different kind of anger. They’re upset with Washington, D.C. They’re upset nothing’s got done.”

“The way he communicates that, I wish were different.”

The presumptive Republican nominee “has a responsibility for the country’s well-being to use a civil, respectful tone, she told reporters two weeks ahead of the anniversary of the Emanuel shooting.”

Much of Haley’s comments surrounded the state controversy over the Confederate flag, with which Dylann Roof was seen in numerous photos posing.

Here’s Gov. Haley speaking last year, one day after the June 17 massacre and Emanuel AME church. 

 

Image: Screenshot via CBS This Morning/YouTube