The bar for GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley has always been in hell, but she somehow continuously lowers it. This time, she omitted slavery as a reason for the Civil War during a campaign stop in Berlin, New Hampshire, on Wednesday. Now, sheโs attempting to do damage control.
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It went down like this: โWhat was the cause of the United States Civil War?โ a man asked the former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor during yesterdayโs event. Her reply? โWell, donโt come with an easy question. I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run, the freedoms and what people could and couldnโt do,โ Haley responded.
She in turn asked the man what he thought the cause was and he replied that he isnโt running for presidentโHaley is. Good point. Additionally, the man said he was shocked that her response didnโt include slavery.
โWhat do you want me to say about slavery?โ Haley asked.
Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison called Haleyโs response โa slap in the face to Black voters.โ He stated:
โThis isnโt hard: condemning slavery is the baseline for anyone who wants to be President of the United States, but Nikki Haley and the rest of the MAGA GOP are choking on their words trying to rewrite history.โ
President Biden simply replied to the video on X/Twitter by commenting: โIt was about slavery.โ Then on a local radio show, โThe Pulse of NH,โ Haley attempted to save her campaign with, โOf course the Civil War was about slavery. We know that. Thatโs the easy part of it.โ
She didnโt stop there.
โI want to nip it in the bud. Yes, we know the Civil War was about slavery. But more than that, whatโs the lesson in all this? That freedom matters,โ she said. โAnd individual rights and liberties matter for all people. Thatโs the blessing of America. That was a stain on America when we had slavery.โ
She added, โBut what we want is [to] never relive it, never let anyone take those freedoms away again.โ
Haley may have risen in the polls, but she has definitely lowered herself among many of our Black thought-leaders like Nicole Hannah-Jones. About Haleyโs slavery snub, she posted on X, โItโs not even a hard question. Itโs absurd that she felt she had to evade the question to avoid political liability.โ
That.
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