CNN's Asha Rangappa Accidentally Exposes Folly of Identity Politics in Embarrassing Twitter Exchange

AP Photo/Ron Harris

One thing that for years has kept Democrat movers and shakers up at night is the fear that one day they’d finally lose their iron-like grip on the minority voters who for decades now have been central to many of their election victories.

Advertisement

Under former President Donald Trump, their fears were realized with the significant inroads he made with black and Hispanic voters over the course of his time in office.

While it wasn’t an earthshattering shift in support, it was enough to give Democrats nightmares in areas where they had previously enjoyed uninterrupted loyalty from those same voting blocs.

Here we are in 2023 and as the GOP presidential nomination race kicks into high gear with Trump declaring in November and now former Trump United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, the woke left are telling on themselves yet again on the issue of identity politics.

We saw this in the left’s/media’s unhinged reactions to Haley’s announcement with their revival of the tiresome “Nikki Haley is trying to hide her Indian heritage by not using her real name” lie, further proving how absolutely terrified they are at the possibility that a minority GOP candidate could one day be president.

CNN “legal and national security analyst” Asha Rangappa, who like Haley is also of Indian descent, has taken particular issue in the past with Haley’s use of the name Nikki (which is Haley’s middle name and is on her birth certificate) and did so on a related “point” this week as her comrades on the left once again latched on to the hateful (and false) talking point.

Advertisement

In response, Rangappa was called out because as it turns out, she doesn’t use her first name, either.

Twitter user Damin Toell was the first to remind Rangappa of a tweet she posted about Haley in 2020 but deleted sometime after, and then asked Asha what her first name was:

“Renuka. Why?” she responded, seemingly confused that she had just shown that her racially-charged whining over Haley not using her first name was wildly hypocritical.

Twitter user “Fusa” then weighed in, dunking on Rangappa for pretending she didn’t get it.

“I absolutely love that you can’t see the parallel. Either you are so dumb that it’s mind melting, or you’re a hypocrite purposefully pretending you don’t notice,” Fusa wrote. “You really are special Renuka.”

In turn, Rangappa mocked Fusa by declaring in so many words that there’s no way she could hide her heritage because her skin color gave it away, though apparently in Rangappa’s view that same rule doesn’t apply to Haley, who has for years going back to her time as South Carolina’s governor talked openly and proudly of her Indian heritage.

Advertisement

“Guys: I look brown in my picture, right?? Like, I’m obviously not white?? I am so confused right now because it never occurred to me that I could ‘hide’ from my Indian background,” she tweeted in response, including the crying eyes laughing emoji because maturity and stuff.

Later, Rangappa tried to suggest that unlike her, Haley deliberately took the last name of her white husband so she could hide her Indian heritage.

“Also ‘Rangappa’ is kind of a problem if I were trying to pass as white. 🙄 (I didn’t change my last name when I got married to a white guy),” she snidely proclaimed.

If all of this sounds obnoxiously stupid, it’s because it is. The left’s obsession with wokeness and identity politics has made it so that most if not all debates and discussions about race and minority public figures devolve into ridiculousness like this.

This is what happens when a person’s physical characteristics are emphasized and focused on more than their ability and what they bring to the table. It trivializes and demeans people and further divides them at a time when a little comity is greatly needed.

But then again, purposely dividing people is exactly what the racial arsonists of this world like Asha Rangappa strive to do, so we shouldn’t be too surprised.

Advertisement

Ironically, at some point this week Rangappa added her first name to her Twitter bio. As of Sunday, it wasn’t there, but when my RS colleague Brad Slager checked Thursday, it was:

LOL. Couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried.

Flashback: Asha Rangappa’s Southwest Airlines Hot Take Confirms CNN ‘Analysts’ Really Should Seek Professional Help

Recommended

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on RedState Videos