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, sheβs attempting to do damage control.
It went down like this: βWhat was the cause of the United States Civil War?β a man asked the former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor during yesterdayβs event. Her reply? βWell, donβt 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 couldnβt do,β Haley responded.
Suggested Reading
She in turn asked the man what he thought the cause was and he replied that he isnβt running for presidentβHaley is. Good point. Additionally, the man said he was shocked that her response didnβt include slavery.
βWhat do you want me to say about slavery?β Haley asked.
Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison called Haleyβs response βa slap in the face to Black voters.β He stated:
βThis isnβt 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.β
President Biden simply replied to the video on X/Twitter by commenting: βIt was about slavery.β Then on a local radio show, βThe Pulse of NH,β Haley attempted to save her campaign with, βOf course the Civil War was about slavery. We know that. Thatβs the easy part of it.β
She didnβt stop there.
βI want to nip it in the bud. Yes, we know the Civil War was about slavery. But more than that, whatβs the lesson in all this? That freedom matters,β she said. βAnd individual rights and liberties matter for all people. Thatβs the blessing of America. That was a stain on America when we had slavery.β
She added, βBut what we want is [to] never relive it, never let anyone take those freedoms away again.β
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 Haleyβs slavery snub, she posted on X, βItβs not even a hard question. Itβs absurd that she felt she had to evade the question to avoid political liability.β
That.
Straight From
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.