Former South Carolina governor and current Donald Trump stooge Nikki Haley questioned in a Washington Post op-ed yesterday whether we could've removed the Confederate flag from the statehouse in today's political climate. This isn't because the president is a racist who has empowered racists. No, Haley specifically says the "reason is not the upsurge in white nationalism," which she considers a "disturbing trend that must be resisted." That's a pretty weak condemnation. It's like she's pooh-poohing all the live-action remakes of classic Disney cartoons.

Haley believes "media hysteria" is to blame for why apparently South Carolina's leaders would now choose to keep up a racist flag after a white supremacist murdered black churchgoers at Mother Emanuel. We just couldn't pause today and have the "thoughtful and prayerful dialogue" we had following the murders. Haley doesn't mention the name Barack Obama, who was president at the time and brought down the house during his moving eulogy for church pastor Clementa Pinckney. We lived through Charlottesville so we have depressing precedent for how Trump might've handled the tragedy.

We just talked about how Tom Nichols blamed liberals for why Republicans refuse to hold Trump accountable. Haley makes a similar, baseless argument. "Outrage" culture would make the "good" conservatives less likely to do the right thing and more likely to support Confederate apologists. Will you just look at what we made conservatives do with our liberal insistence on acknowledging history? This is a chilling sentiment when the president runs concentration camps. It feels like Haley and other "good" conservatives are shaking us down for "protection." All they ask in return is our silence and submission.

Haley's op-ed that the Post ran for reasons is filled with the same historically illiterate garbage about the Confederate flag that she offered up last week on Glenn Beck's show. Haley subjects us to more Lost Cause bullshit and the moral relativism of owning people.

HALEY: In South Carolina, as in much of the South, the Confederate flag has long been a hot-button issue. Everyone knows the flag has always been a symbol of slavery, discrimination and hate for many people. But not everyone sees the flag that way. That's hard for non-Southerners to understand, but it's a fact.

Southern racists have used this rhetoric for generations. During the height of Jim Crow, they often claimed it was only Jews "outside agitators" who were making a big fuss about the ongoing oppression of black people. Nice, polite black folks loved riding in the back of the bus. That's where all the heat was.