Nikki Haley warns conservative teens about the dangers of trying to 'own the libs'
On Monday night, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley gave conservative teens at the High School Leadership Summit at George Washington University some very sound advice: Stop trying to own the libs.
"Raise your hand if you've ever posted anything online to quote-unquote 'own the libs,'" she directed the crowd. Most raised their hands and started to clap, The Hill reports, as if they expected Haley to offer up praise. Instead, she told them that it may seem like "fun" and "can feel good, but step back and think about what you're accomplishing when you do this — are you persuading anyone? Who are you persuading? We've all been guilty of it at some point or another, but this kind of speech isn't leadership — it's the exact opposite."
True leadership involves "bringing people around to your points of view," she added. "Not by shouting them down, but by showing them how it is in their best interest to see things they way you do." Wise words from the ambassador, which participants will hopefully remember when Donald Trump Jr. — whose brash Twitter presence is equal parts trying to sell Trump-branded leashes and other accoutrements, ruining words like "lit," and retweeting conspiracies and messages about "stage 4 Trump Derangement Syndrome" — addresses the teenagers later this week.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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