Former Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley speaks at the 2019 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference, at Washington Convention Center, in Washington, Monday, March 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Sometimes it’s best to check the source and wait. Meghan McCain has never been known for her patience in her commentary though.

The background on this is an interview done with Nikki Haley in which the topic of the Dylann Roof’s massacre came up. In it, Haley tried to explain her reasoning for removing the Confederate flag from the State Capitol. Part of her explanation included the obvious fact that many people supporting the flag were not doing so because they supported racist murderers, but rather thought of it as a part of their heritage. That was not Haley’s personal view in the interview. She was simply saying that others saw it that way.

That led to this tweet, in which a Media Matters employee took Haley out of context and tried to say she was lauding the Confederate flag. She wasn’t if you actually watch the video.

Nikki Haley says the Confederate flag was about "service, and sacrifice, and heritage" until Dylan Roof "hijacked" it pic.twitter.com/pqdhKIezRl

— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) December 6, 2019

Media Matters lying is just another day in the political world, but McCain apparently fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

This is a deeply insensitive and ignorant thing to say Nikki. There is no room for any defense of the confederate flag. https://t.co/evVfyAeOmg

— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) December 6, 2019

That tweet has now been deleted, but here’s the screenshot.

First, why is she calling her “Nikki” like they are a couple of high school kids?

Regardless, this is indicative of a bigger issue, which is that when you are constantly looking to signal your own virtue, you become susceptible to falling for nonsense that you think will allow you to do so. We saw this throughout the past three years with the Russian collusion garbage, where countless blue check-mark conservatives constantly rushed to make their condemnations known after every selective leak. In the end, many of those reports would turn out to be misleading or outright false. Rarely did anyone ever admit their mistake, instead moving on to the next bombshell to signal over.

There’s also the example of the Covington Catholic ordeal, where several conservative commentators got caught with their pants down by attacking a group of kids without all the facts. Further video evidence would prove they had attacked the wrong people and that the Native American man was the aggressor.

For McCain’s part, she’s often found herself lashing out at other Republicans without giving full credence to the context. Perhaps a 24 hour rule would serve her well. There’s also the simple issue that there’s no reason to treat political allies like this. Haley and McCain probably agree on 95% of policy. Why the rush to attack her in the first place? Unfortunately, such sniping has become a common occurrence on the right during the Trump era, with certain people so desperate to constantly differentiate themselves from the evil orange man. The problem is, Trump won’t be around forever, and repeatedly burning bridges is a pretty awful strategy for those who want political influence again when this is all over.

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