Whoever the guy was in New Hampshire, who asked Nikki Haley what was the cause of the Civil War, I am strongly inclined to believe, as Haley said later, was a “Democratic plant.”
Who else would have asked her a vague question that could be answered in all manner of ways, unrelated to her policies as South Carolina governor or her presidential platform? It seemed purposely designed to trip her up, most assuredly, whatever this guy’s intentions were or his affiliations.
Ironically she’s being accused of pandering to Trump’s racist base simply for trying in a couple sentences to explain the structural factors that led up to the Civil War—and failing to give a one-word answer, i.e. slavery, to address a complex subject. You might as well ask someone on the stump hey what caused World War I?
She might have mentioned slavery (clearly it would have helped). But she didn’t have to. As she said later, she thought slavery was “a given.” Indeed I don’t think we have to harp on slavery and underscore racism—RACISM!— like woke fanatics in every discussion or conversation we ever have about the Civil War. Everybody knows—I think even racists know—slavery and slaves had something to do with the Civil War.
But for the legacy media, not to miss an opportunity to slam anyone as a racist, failing to mention slavery as a cause of the Civil War was tantamount to denying it as a cause. The guy said to her he was “astonished” she didn’t mention slavery. If you think slavery was all the Civil War was about, like progressives think, it must be nice to be astonished by what you call her “omission.” It must be very flattering to your insatiable progressive vanity.
To be sure if Nikki did mention slavery, the media would be attacking her for failing to mention that racism was the cause of slavery. What makes me more inclined to think this hyperventilating virtue-signaller was a Democratic operative was that Joe Biden was compelled to chime in with a statement on the cause of the Civil War, glib as usual saying, “it was about slavery”— and Biden always seeking to disguise his cognitive frailty with the pretense of being terse.
Nikki Haley is the only Republican running for president that polls project would trounce Biden. With her surge in the polls recently, you can expect the Democratic party to start to portray her as a racist of course—race being the tool of first resort—if not indistinguishable from “MAGA Republicans.” They have to do this, because she is the only Republican running who’s not a Trump Republican, which is part of the reason she’s doing so well.
The upshot is that while the Republican party is largely hostage to the personality cult of Trump, the Democratic party is in shambles from the border crisis, Biden’s unpopularity, and the Gaza War which has shown the modern American progressive left to be flagrantly antisemitic and racist interestingly. These are strange and craven times, but this is how we might measure how desperately the Democrats need the only genuine alternative to Trump to be a racist.
It is not just the media, liberals, progressives or Democrats though who found fault with Haley’s response. Here is Nellie Bowles in the centrist Free Press today.
In a town hall this week in Berlin, New Hampshire, someone asked Nikki Haley a very simple question: “What was the cause of the United States Civil War?” And Nikki Haley decided this was the moment for a long, convoluted answer about freedoms and complexity. When the man said it was “astonishing” she didn’t mention slavery, Haley balked: “What do you want me to say about slavery? Next question.” Oh, Nikki, it was so easy. I understand that if you’ve read too much about the issue, like in books or something, you may come to believe the Civil War had a lot of causes. Here’s PBS: “A common explanation is that the Civil War was fought over the moral issue of slavery. In fact, it was the economics of slavery and political control of that system that was central to the conflict.” Do you know what that sounds like to me? Too many words.
Here in the US of A, the Civil War had one cause. It’s like when Republicans asked college presidents whether calling for the genocide of Jews would violate the student code of conduct. That’s called a gimme. You make a sad face and say: “Yes.” It doesn’t matter what the student handbook actually says. No one cares. You say genocide is so sad, so bad. And Nikki Haley, with all due respect: just say slavery so bad, war tough but war good, America strong, America prevail. You see: you’re not running for president of Georgetown’s history department. You’re running for president of America. When you say something is complex, I feel unsafe, alarmed. Next, will you tell me that America isn’t simply a force for good?
I think Nellie is wrong. What caused the the Civil War is a complex subject. And no effort to address it honestly would yield such a simplistic answer as slavery full stop. Nellie even admits that but says it’s not the politician’s job to put on her Georgetown professor’s hat, however I think the subject deserves does that level of analysis. But this is beside the point for me. The real question we should be asking is what business that sanctimonious jerk—who asked her the question, who’s clearly not a Republican—had at this event and what response he meant to elicit by asking her the question.
Though we can forgive her for being unprepared for it, her answer was almost incoherent. I will go as far as to acknowledge it was a bad moment for the Haley campaign. But though her concluding remarks weren’t very graceful either, I agree with the point she was making— after the guy said he was “astonished” she didn’t mention slavery, she snapped at him, “what do you want me to say about slavery?”
Exactly. To the media and the progressive left—what can a conservative Republican say about slavery, or not say about it, that’s not going to get her smeared as a neo-Confederate racist?
— Jay
Whomever thinks that once Trump is out of the running the press will treat Republicans honestly, is a fool. It doesn’t matter who the Republican nominee is - he or she will be called the same names as Trump. Let’s hope this propels Nikki Haley forward.
Jay, can I ask where exactly you live in the US because speaking as a New Englander albeit not a New Hampshireite I would argue whether you want to call this gotcha politics or political hazing there is a long tradition of this type of questioning in NH Presidential primary campaigns. I tend to believe the person who asked the question isn't so much a plant but a good ole flinty New England Yankee.