Social media posts portraying her as Shiva, the deity of destruction. Others falsely use deep fake technology to show that it offends voters. And still others who direct hatred toward their son, a college student.
Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and former U.N. ambassador, was spared the full onslaught of former President Donald J. Trump’s loyal following of internet trolls for most of her presidential campaign. The cadre of largely anonymous figures who campaign almost constantly on Mr. Trump’s behalf initially focused on brutally attacking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, seen as the former president’s strongest rival in the 2024 Republican primary. But with Ms. Haley now his last remaining opponent, the machine has turned in her direction.
Online personalities have spread vicious attacks in recent weeks through memes, posts and videos that often center on their race, gender and identity. Some vilify her, saying she was “teased because of her brownness,” and others falsely claim that she was ineligible to serve as president because her parents were immigrants. Some of the most disturbing material was generated by artificial intelligence, digitally manipulating her voice and likeness. Much of the content is full of crude sexual innuendo.
Joan Donovan, a disinformation researcher and assistant professor of journalism at Boston University, said the threats and insults were indicative of the type of political repression and “network harassment” that Mr. Trump and his online admirers have initiated.
“These are people who see themselves as participants in Trump’s troll army,” Ms. Donovan said. “Other politicians have failed to activate online audiences in the same way.”
As Ms. Haley and Mr. Trump engage in a heated primary battle in South Carolina, their home turf, on Saturday, the online smears are only likely to get worse. And at a time when campaigns are waging war both online and offline, not all efforts have been limited to the internet.
Laura Loomer, an internet activist close to Mr. Trump who has made fierce personal attacks on Ms. Haley on social media, has also tried to ambush her at campaign events by shouting questions at her staff and surrogates and filming their answers. BlazeTV’s Alex Stein took some of Ms. Haley’s young female volunteers to task.
For most of the election cycle, Trump aides, his allies and MAGA fans online focused their energy on Mr. DeSantis, who faced a wave of social media posts and videos depicting him, his wife, his staff and his family Substitute in a deeply unflattering way. The attacks against the governor focused on his masculinity, loyalty and competence, helping to hurt his poll numbers and weakening his image among Republican primary voters as a confident fighter for conservative causes.
The backlash against Ms. Haley began shortly after the Iowa caucuses, when it became clear that she, not Mr. DeSantis, was Mr. Trump’s strongest challenger. The content initially focused on her foreign policy stance, accusing her of being a “warmonger” and attacking some of her policy decisions as governor of South Carolina. Although Ms. Haley mostly tried to stay out of the fray, her son Nalin was ready to hit back at her rivals with his own memes and jokes on social media platforms.
The tone of the attacks changed dramatically after The Daily Mail published an article on January 19 that unearthed old allegations that Ms. Haley had two extramarital affairs in 2008, two years before she was first elected governor. Ms. Haley has long denied the allegations, but the article sparked a flood of content on X and other social media platforms that portrayed her in highly sexualized ways.
The often obscene posts, which used artificial intelligence to manipulate images or mimic Ms. Haley’s voice, eschewed traditional political criticism and instead sought to portray an opponent as someone with loose morals. Some posts were created by a team of internet trolls that calls themselves Trump’s online war machine.
Karen Kedrowski, the director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University, said the content captures the combination of sexist and racist undertones aimed at stripping targets of their authority and turning them into objects of ridicule transform. This type of harassment can be particularly damaging to female candidates, she and other analysts said.
“It reduces women to sexual objects,” she said. That could open the door to more dangerous threats or physical violence, she added, noting that Ms. Haley had been the target of “swatting” 911 calls that had cornered authorities.
Interest in Ms. Haley appeared to wane this month as Mr. Trump began looking beyond the primary to the general election and MAGA’s internet gladiators focused on attacking President Biden and Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, who is responsible for bringing criminal charges against Mr. Haley. Trump, accusing him of interfering in the 2020 election in Georgia. But with the South Carolina primary just days away, Ms. Haley has returned to the spotlight.
Ms. Haley’s supporters and allies see Mr. Trump and his aides as responsible for helping to fuel the online message. When Ms. Haley first began rising in the polls last year, the former president began calling her “birdbrain.” His top advisers have followed suit, often describing her as “stupid” in online posts. Mr. Trump himself amplified a report on his social media page that sowed doubt about her citizenship.
Ms. Haley has fired back at some of Mr. Trump’s attacks, although with mixed results. Her campaign team, whose top staff is women and which has a nationwide coalition of highly active female volunteers, initially gleefully pointed to the “birdbrain” insults as evidence that the Trump camp was concerned about their momentum. She has recently stepped up her criticism of the former president, calling him a “troubled” and grumpy old man. Her attacks on Mr. Trump’s age and mental fitness did not always resonate with some of her supporters, who said they preferred her earlier refusal to get personal.
Ms. Haley’s use of social media tends to be more traditional and scripted, as is her team’s, with an emphasis on promoting events, politics and news media appearances. Unlike Mr. Trump, she does not appear to have a broad base of deeply loyal and highly online messengers. And an attempt by her campaign to create anti-Trump memes a few weeks ago was roundly mocked. Still, some of their employees have worked directly with Mr. Trump’s team.
An online back-and-forth erupted on Tuesday after Ms. Haley gave a speech in which she vowed not to drop out despite a series of early defeats and regardless of the outcome in South Carolina on Saturday.
Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Mr Trump who is known for his insults against the former president’s rivals, said on X that Ms Haley would “come down” and praise Mr Trump once the primaries were over. Olivia Perez-Cubas, Ms. Haley’s spokeswoman, responded with a kiss emoji and “xoxo.”
In a statement to The New York Times, Mr. Cheung again called Ms. Haley a “birdbrain” and said she had not yet named a state she could win. In response, Ms. Perez-Cubas quoted a line from Ms. Haley, who said she was “attracting all the voters that Donald Trump drove out of the party,” a reference to Republican losses in recent elections.
Referring to the rise in content generated by Mr Trump’s fans, Ms Perez-Cubas said it underscored why “tone at the top matters”.
“We need someone who can bring civility back and heal this country,” she said. “You can be tough and strong without being hateful.”
Some of the offline efforts to troll Ms. Haley’s team have drawn backlash. Outside the upscale Dallas honky-tonk where Ms. Haley spoke last week, Mr. Stein, the BlazeTV personality, accosted some of her young female employees on camera, calling them “whores” and asking for information about their OnlyFans accounts . a subscription-based website primarily used by sex workers.
The move was criticized online by Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, a Republican who had been a key supporter of Mr. DeSantis, and other conservatives.
“I debate highlighting this behavior, but it needs to be addressed,” Mr. Roy wrote on , campaign staff or volunteers deserves stern rebuke. Be better @BlazeTV.”
Mr. Stein has since apologized.
Nicholas Nehamas contributed reporting.
Source link
2024-02-22 23:08:14
www.nytimes.com