Super Tuesday is when both Republicans and Democrats hold their primaries or caucuses in 15 states. In most years these state contests go a long way to deciding the eventual presidential nominees.
In 2024, the GOP is holding primaries in 13 states and caucuses in two.
Since the nominees for both parties are more or less decided—barring an extreme event—the news media is looking for voters' opinions on the candidates with an eye towards November.
In North Carolina, a supporter of former Republican President Donald Trump said the quiet part out loud when he explained why he chose Trump over former South Carolina governor and Trump administration member Nikki Haley.
NBC correspondent Shaquille Brewster was in Graham, North Carolina where he spoke to Emmett Martin.
Brewster shared the interaction on his X account, captioned:
"Men and women have told me they wouldn’t vote for Haley because she’s a woman before (and in plenty of other states), but rarely is it said this explicitly and in front of a camera."
The MAGA voter's views seemed to encapsulate the prevailing attitude of today's Republican Party when it comes to women based on the rash of forced birth laws and reproductive healthcare restrictions proposed or enacted by Republican legislators.
Brewster asked:
"What did you think of Nikki Haley? Did you ever consider her?"
Martin told Brewster:
"Ya know, what I got to say, you don't really want to put on."
After encouragement to speak his mind, Martin stated:
"A woman's not gonna be a good President. She don't have no balls to scratch."
"She's just gonna scratch her head."
"All a woman’s good for in my book is having babies and taking care of the house."
Martin then blamed his attitude on being "old school."
Brewster asked if the North Carolina MAGA man never considered Haley "mainly because she’s a woman,"
Martin responded:
"Because she's female."
"I mean, females—don't take me wrong—females know what they're doing, but they still got to have a little bit of guidance."
He then added who he thought would be qualified to guide Haley.
"Trump would be the one to guide her through the [unintelligible mumbling]."
Brewster included a post by NBC Politics Managing Editor Amanda Terkel when he shared the interview clip.
Terkel included a link to the network's Super Tuesday coverage which featured Brewster's interaction with Martin.
Terkel wrote:
"So a male voter in NC told [Shaquille Brewster] that he doesn't like Nikki Haley bc he doesn't think a woman should be president bc she has no 'balls to scratch'."
"'All a woman’s good for in my book is having babies and taking care of the house'."
People were appalled, but unsurprised by the Republican voter's opinion of women.
Many felt it reflected Trump’s views on women as well.
Nikki Haley graduated from Clemson University with a degree in accounting and finance. She served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2005 to 2011, then as governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017 when she was tapped by Trump to serve as his ambassador to the United Nations.
Haley has 12 years of public sector experience, while Trump’s first job outside the empire his grandparents created was as President in 2017.
In remarks not shared in the video clip, Martin praised Trump.
MAGA Martin said:
"He’s a pretty good guy, seems to know what he’s doing."
"He’s helped the economy out, we had more jobs, we made more money, we didn’t have as much taxes—things were a whole lot better when he was our President."
@lpeterp/Bluesky
@FPWellman/X
@bobsbeatgmail.com5/Threads