Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is facing significant counterreaction after failing to mention slavery as a driving force behind the Civil War during a crusade stop in New Hampshire.
At an event on Wednesday, a voter asked Haley” what was the cause of the United States Civil War?”
Nikki replied that the cause” was principally how government was going to run, the freedoms, and what people could and could not do.”
Nikki Haley didn’t say slavery caused the Civil War
” I suppose it always comes down to the part of government and what the rights of the people are,” Haley continued.” And I’ll always stand by the fact that, I suppose, government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people.”
After Haley gave her answer, the voter told her that it was” astonishing” that she gave an answer” without mentioning the word‘ slavery.'”
Last night, President Biden said on X in response to a videotape of this exchange that the Civil War was indeed” about slavery.”
” Of course the Civil War was about slavery,” she said.” We know that. That is the easy part of it.”
Haley explained that she was interested in talking about what assignments should be drawn from the Civil War and defended her answer to the voter.
” I know it’s about slavery,” she said.” I’m from the South.”
Nikki Haley has a complicated history when it comes to issues of race. As a woman of color, her crusade was inclination to strike a different tone on issues of race and identity – especially in comparison to her principal rival in the GOP primary, former President Donald Trump.
As South Carolina’s governor, Haley ordered the belligerent flag be removed from the grounds of the state statehouse following the 2015 firing of Black parishioners at a church in Charleston in 2015.
Nikki Haley also condemned Trump following the supremacist and anti-Semitic gathering in Charlottesville,Va., in 2017.( She also served as U.N. minister to Trump from 2017 to 2018.)
The Republican Party, however, has been striking an overall different tone when it comes to issues of race and the country‘s history with slavery and white supremacy. Democratic governors, including some of Haley’s rivals in the race, have been barring diversity and addition sweats in advanced education, as well as banning books that are about race.
Counterreaction to Haley’s commentary comes lower than three weeks before Democratic choosers start advancing in early primary countries. The Iowa side, the first primary contest, is Jan. 15.
Nikki Haley’s crusade, in particular, has had a surprising quantum of instigation in the last several months. The formerly crowded field of presidential campaigners has been shrinking ahead of early state choices but Haley has been one of the many campaigners actually gaining further support.
Just this week, there have been reports that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ crusade is floundering and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy has cut television announcement spending.
Trump has had a commanding lead in the pates in early countries and nationally. Nikki Haley, still, has been the only seeker in the primary that has presented any kind of challenge for the former chairman.