A day after a New Hampshire voter called her to clarify the lack of mention of slavery as a cause of the war, Nikki Haley demanded clarification of her remarks on the Civil War on Thursday.
On Thursday morning, Haley said to radio host Jack Heath, “I mean, my point is, of course, the Civil War was about slavery.”
She went on, “But what’s the lesson in all of this?” “Everyone must be guaranteed the freedom to express themselves, to practice their religion, and to be who they want to be without interference from the state or other parties. That was the intention. Yes, I am aware that the topic was slavery. Since I’m from the South, I am aware that it has to do with slavery.”
Following her remarks in front of the crowd at New Hampshire Town Hall—that the Civil War was about the government infringing on people’s rights—Haley was met with immediate criticism from both the GOP and the general public.
“I mean, I believe that the basic structure of the government led to the Civil War. As she attempts to close the gap with Republican front-runner Donald Trump next month, Haley said on Wednesday during her first of five visits to Berlin. “It depended on what rights and freedoms people have,” she said.
The voter said, “I’m not running for president in 2023,” when the former governor of South Carolina questioned her about the reason why the war.
Haley stated, “I think it always depends on the role of government and what people’s rights are.” “I will never waver in my belief that protecting people’s rights and liberties was the government’s primary objective. For everyone at any given time, it never meant everything,” she continued.
She received criticism from the voter for failing to bring up slavery in her answer. The voter said, “In 2023, it’s remarkable to me that you answer that question without mentioning slavery.”
“What do you want to say about slavery?” Haley enquired.
“You responded to my query,” he said.
Haley responded, “Next question,” to cheers from the audience.
After Town Hall on Wednesday night, a voter going by the name Patrick spoke with reporters and called his question “fairly straightforward and very simple.”
He claimed that when Haley was running for South Carolina governor, he “involuntarily” asked her the same question in a video that was taken “years ago,” which is why he’s asking her again as she seeks the presidency.
“What she answered today was similar to the answer given tonight,” he stated. “I was just eager to see if she would give a different answer.”
On social media, Democrats and President Biden’s campaign grasped the opportunity immediately. “This was about slavery,” tweeted Biden, along with a video of remarks that his campaign account had uploaded.
Party lines did not limit criticism. A representative for presidential contender Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, referred to Haley’s efforts to retract her remarks as “embarrassing.”
“If she can’t handle a basic question about the cause of the Civil War, what does she think will happen in a general election against Democrats?” DeSantis’s spokesperson, Andrew Romeo, tweeted on Thursday. He said, “Democrats will have their lunch.”
As the first state to separate during the Civil War, South Carolina, Haley had a complicated and well-known relationship with the Confederacy’s past as its previous governor. She had previously supported states’ rights preservation in an interview with a local group in 2010 while she was a gubernatorial candidate, as per CNN report
She depicted the Civil War as an ideological struggle between two factions, one pushing for “change” and the other for “tradition.”
After the horrific shooting at a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, Governor Haley of South Carolina demanded that the Confederate battle flag be taken down from its 2000 location on the grounds of the statehouse.