Nikki Haley, a Republican presidential candidate, admitted feeling “stupid” for failing to identify slavery as a cause of the Civil War during a radio interview with Charlamagne tha God.
She explained that she thought the questioner was asking something else and that she was overthinking the question.
Haley later clarified her stance on slavery but also claimed the questioner was a “Democrat plant” aiming to discredit her.
On Jack Heath's show, @NikkiHaley says Democrats/@JoeBiden "are sending plants" to her town halls. "Why are they hitting me? See this for what it is… They want to run against Trump.
In town halls, I answer every question, and they are planting questions there."@NHGOP #FITN— NH Journal (@NewHampJournal) December 28, 2023
“Why initially didn’t you just say, ‘Hey, it was about slavery?” Charlamagne asked Haley.
Haley said she assumed the man “was trying to ask something else” and that she “could tell that he was not a fan.”
“Slavery should have been the first thing that came out of my mouth. I mean, growing up in South Carolina, we all knew that the Civil War was about slavery. That almost seemed too easy; I thought he was asking a harder question, and that’s why I didn’t say it,” she said.
“It was wrong. I should have said it,” Haley added, noting she was “overthinking that question.”
“Did you feel stupid that night?” Charlamagne asked.
“Yeah, I mean, it was one of those things like, because it was so – like slavery’s a given – so I was mad that it was a given, but I was too busy judging his intentions than I was just answering the question,” she said.
This incident has become a point of criticism in her campaign against Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.
“Why are they hitting me? See this for what it is… They want to run against Trump,” Haley said. “In town halls, I answer every question, and they are planting questions there.”
“It was definitely a Democrat plant. When I asked him, he didn’t want to answer. He didn’t give reporters his name,” she added.
