If Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, knows the official cause of the Civil War, she sure knows how to hide it.
The presidential candidate created a stir when she was asked by a potential voter at a town hall in Berlin, New Hampshire, what caused it.
“I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run,” Haley said. “The freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do. What do you think the cause of the Civil War was or argument?”
The potential voter responded by telling Haley that he wasn’t the one running for President.
Haley stood firm.
“I think it always comes down to the role of government and what the rights of the people are,” she continued. “And 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.”
When the questioner pushed the fact that she failed to even mention slavery in her response, she inquired about what he really wanted her to say about it. “What do you want me to say about slavery? Next question.”
It didn’t take long for Haley’s comments (or lack of) to make it to social media. President Joe Biden decided to answer the question for her.
“It’s not even a hard question,” tweeted Nikole Hannah Jones, founder of the 1619 Project. “It’s absurd that she felt she had to evade the question to avoid political liability.”
While talking to CNN’s Abby Phillip, Rev. William J. Barber said Haley’s lack of regard shows “why there’s not a dime of difference between these candidates and Trump.”
“It was about the oppression of Black men and women. It was about turning human beings into chattel,” he said.
Haley has had her share of controversy over the Civil War. During her gubernatorial campaign in 2010, she spoke to a now-defunct activist group, describing the war as being between two disparate sides fighting for “tradition and change” and referred to the Confederate flag as being “not something that is racist.”
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