Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley Faces Backlash Over Refusal to Cite Slavery as Cause of Civil War

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is facing blistering backlash after not mentioning slavery when asked what caused the Civil War in the United States, RadarOnline.com has learned.

The 2024 hopeful was put on the spot during a town hall in Berlin, New Hampshire, this week. "Well, don't come with an easy question," she jokingly told the attendee.

"I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run, the freedoms of what people could and couldn't do. What do you think the cause of the Civil War was?" she replied. "I'm not running for president," the man fired back.

Haley clarified that she believes it always comes down to the role of government. "We need to have capitalism. We need to have economic freedom," the former Governor of South Carolina continued.

"We need to make sure that we do all things so that individuals have the liberties so that they can have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to do or be anything they want to be without government getting in the way."

After the voter said it was "astonishing" that Haley did not once bring up slavery, she asked, "What do you want me to say about slavery?"

Other social media users online debated about it being a complicated matter and the history that she could have referenced but instead dodged. Many cited how Abraham Lincoln's platform coming into presidency was that any new states would be non-slavery states, leading to the Civil War from 1861 to 1865 and Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.

The voter at the town hall event said Haley's answer told him everything he needed to know and she then moved on to the next question.

Critics have spoken out about the viral clip, including President Joe Biden who took to X, formerly Twitter, to declare, "It was about slavery."

Alyssa Farah Griffin, who formerly served as White House Communications Director under President Donald Trump, echoed, "Nikki Haley's answer here is bizarre and wrong. I hope she will clarify her remarks. It's too important and too easy of a question to get wrong. I support Haley and would like to hear her correct herself. Leaders admit when they're wrong."

Haley has since addressed the ongoing criticism, insisting that she didn't mention slavery because it's the "easy part" and claiming a plant may have been sent in to ask the question.

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"Of course the Civil War was about slavery. We know that. That's the easy part of it," she told the Pulse of New Hampshire radio show. "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."