Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley defended failing to mention slavery as the cause of the Civil War Thursday morning, accusing a town hall attendee who asked her the question the previous night of being a Democratic “plant.”
The Republican presidential candidate faced immediate blowback for her response after she was asked about the cause of the conflict at the Berlin, NH, event Wednesday evening.
Haley initially responded that the war broke out due to disagreement on “how the government” was going to run, and became defensive when the attendee said he was astonished she didn’t mention slavery in her answer.
“What do you want me to say about slavery?” Haley responded. “Next question.”
On Thursday, Haley told the “Good Morning New Hampshire” radio show that “of course the Civil War was about slavery.”
“We know that. That’s the easy part of it. What I was saying was, what does it mean to us today? What it means to us today is about freedom. That’s what that was all about. It was about individual freedom, economic freedom, individual rights. Our goal is to make sure we never go back to the stain of slavery but what’s the lesson in all of that?” Haley said.
Nikki Haley is asked what the cause of the American Civil War was and gives a lengthy answer, without mentioning slavery. SkyNews / XShe then accused President Biden and the Democratic Party of sending “plants” to “do things like this.”
“Why is Biden doing that? Why isn’t he doing that to any other candidate?” asked Haley, noting polls showing her beating Biden by a large margin in a hypothetical general election matchup.
Haley, 51, has been surging in both national polls and in state polls — especially New Hampshire, where a recent survey has put her within striking distance of former President Donald Trump.
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, making his famous Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery during the American Civil War. Getty Images“See this for what it is,” she told host Jack Heath, later adding: “They want to run against Trump. In town halls, I answer every question and they are planting questions there.”
“It was definitely a Democrat plant,” Haley said of her questioner. “When [we] asked him, he didn’t want to answer. He didn’t give reporters his name.”
Andrew Romeo, a spokesman for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign, derided Haley’s statement as an “[e]mbarrassing cleanup attempt.”
“Even if [the ‘plant’ story] is true … If she can’t handle a question as basic as the cause of the Civil War, what does she think is going to happen to her in a general election,” he wrote on X. “The Democrats would eat her lunch.”
At an afternoon town hall in North Conway, NH, Haley took another crack at the issue.
“We did the right thing and slavery is no more,” she said. “But the lessons of what that bigger issue with the Civil War is that — let’s not forget what came out of that — which is government’s role, individual liberties, freedom for every single person, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to do and be anything you want to be without anyone or government getting in your way.
“That should be the goal of what we always and try to take away from that, right?”
Haley’s initial Wednesday night remarks resulted in backlash from some of her GOP rivals, with DeSantis reacting “yikes” on X, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s campaign juxtaposing its recent “Truth” ad with her comments.
Biden himself also responded to Haley’s flub, writing on his personal X account: “It was about slavery.”
DeSantis piled on Thursday afternoon in Iowa, telling reporters Haley was not “ready for primetime” and explaining how he would have answered the question.
“Of course you have the issue of slavery,” DeSantis said, adding: “The abolition of slavery was — to this day, remains — the [Republican] Party’s top achievement.”
