Politics

Haley acknowledges Civil War ‘about slavery’ after facing backlash

Photo: Screen Shot / X (Fair Use)

On Thursday, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley endeavored to justify her earlier remarks that omitted mentioning slavery as a contributing factor to the Civil War, responding to criticism on social media.

“I mean, of course, the Civil War was about slavery,” Haley said on The Pulse of New Hampshire Radio program “Good Morning NH with Jack Heath.”

“We know that- that’s, 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, it was about economic freedom, it was about individual rights,” she said. 

“What was the cause of the United States Civil War?” a male attendee asked Haley during a town hall Wednesday night in Berlin, New Hampshire. 

The ex-U.S. ambassador to the United Nations seemed surprised by the question, exhibiting a momentary pause before responding, CBS News reported.

“Well, don’t come with an easy question,” Haley joked. “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. What do you think the cause of the Civil War was?,” Haley asked.

When the voter followed up with Haley on why she wasn’t mentioning slavery in her response, she asked, “What do you want me to say about slavery?”

On Thursday, Haley expressed her belief that the individual posing the question was “clearly” strategically placed by Democrats to catch her off guard.

While her response garnered some applause from the town hall audience, criticism swiftly ensued, prompting reactions on social media.

President Biden, joining the conversation late Wednesday night, tweeted, “It was about slavery.”

Written by B.C. Begley

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