Nikki Haley tries to clean up Civil War mess, claims attendee was Democratic ‘plant’

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley defended failing to mention slavery as the cause of the Civil War Thursday morning, accusing a town hall attendee who asked her the question the previous night of being a Democratic “plant.”

The Republican presidential candidate faced immediate blowback for her response after she was asked about the cause of the conflict at the Berlin, NH, event Wednesday evening.

Haley initially responded that the war broke out due to disagreement on “how the government” was going to run, and became defensive when the attendee said he was astonished she didn’t mention slavery in her answer.

“What do you want me to say about slavery?” Haley responded. “Next question.” 

On Thursday, Haley told the “Good Morning New Hampshire” radio show that “of course the Civil War was about slavery.”

“We know that. 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, economic freedom, individual rights. Our goal is to make sure we never go back to the stain of slavery but what’s the lesson in all of that?” Haley said.

She then accused President Biden and the Democratic Party of sending “plants” to “do things like this.”

“Why is Biden doing that? Why isn’t he doing that to any other candidate?” asked Haley, noting polls showing her beating Biden by a large margin in a hypothetical general election matchup.

Haley, 51, has been surging in both national polls and in state polls — especially New Hampshire, where a recent survey has put her within striking distance of former President Donald Trump.

“See this for what it is,” she told host Jack Heath, later adding: “They want to run against Trump. In town halls, I answer every question and they are planting questions there.”

“It was definitely a Democrat plant,” Haley said of her questioner. “When [we] asked him, he didn’t want to answer. He didn’t give reporters his name.”

Haley’s Wednesday night remarks resulted in backlash from some of her GOP rivals, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reacting “yikes” on X, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s campaign juxtaposing their recent “Truth” ad with her comments.

Biden himself also responded to Haley’s flub, writing on his personal X account: “It was about slavery.”