Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley was served a huge dose of criticism this week after she failed to mention slavery as part of what caused the Civil War in the United States.
During a town hall in New Hampshire on Wednesday night, an attendee asked the Republican presidential candidate, “What was the cause of the United States Civil War?”
In response, she said, “I mean, I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run. The freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do.”
She then asked the attendant who asked the question what caused the Civil War in his opinion. He, however, declined her question, pointing out that he was not the one running for president.
Haley then said, “I think it always comes down to the role of government and what the rights of the people are. I will always stand by the fact that I think government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people. It was never meant to be all things to all people.”
The man was clearly not satisfied with the U. N. ambassador’s response, so he confronted her about leaving out the slavery. However, she still failed to add that, saying, “What do you want me to say about slavery?”
The exchange led to widespread criticism of Haley as many Republicans, including her fellow candidates, came for her. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke to reporters about the former governor’s gaffe, chalking it up to “incomprehensible word salad.”
He added that Haley “is not a candidate that’s ready for primetime. And she’s gotten a pretty free ride from a lot of the corporate press. The minute that she faces any type of scrutiny, she tends to cave and I think that that’s what you saw yesterday.”
RON DESANTIS reacts to Nikki Haley’s “incomprehensible word salad” about the cause of the Civil War:
Haley “is not a candidate that's ready for primetime. And she's gotten a pretty free ride from a lot of the corporate press. The minute that she faces any type of scrutiny, she… pic.twitter.com/HISbW85pDF
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) December 28, 2023
Biotech executive Vivek Ramaswamy also shared a video of Haley from the last GOP presidential primary debate to his X page to show her failure when he asked her to name three provinces in eastern Ukraine.
“Turns out Nikki knows as little about the Civil War as she does about the Ukraine War. But whatever war it was, I’m sure she’s in favor of it,” he wrote.
Turns out Nikki knows as little about the Civil War as she does about the Ukraine War.
But whatever war it was, I’m sure she’s in favor of it. 💵 pic.twitter.com/zJJSDc86Bc
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 28, 2023
The day after Haley’s botched answer, Ramaswamy was asked the same question during an event in Iowa.
In his response, he said, in part, “So they actually in 1832 were about to secede. Back then, it was about tariffs between the North and South, but ultimately, the thing that boiled us over was slavery. But there was tensions brewing, a value system that was fundamentally different…that’s really what led to the Civil War. So the powder keg was in the air, slavery was the match that we lit that caused it to boil over.”
Vivek was asked about the cause of the Civil War at an event in Iowa on Thursday. His response is everything you would expect from a student of American history like Vivek, and nothing like Nikki Haley's botched non-answer. pic.twitter.com/nX8LzHlSFh
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) December 29, 2023
