Nikki Haley Also Represents All That is Wrong with the Republican Party

 Writing on the necessity for leaders to be well-versed in the study of history, Renaissance Philosopher Nicolo Machiavelli wrote in his work The Discourses that:

"Whoever considers the past and the present will readily observe that all cities and all peoples are and ever have been animated by the same desires and the same passions; so that it is easy, by diligent study of the past, to foresee what is likely to happen in the future in any republic, and to apply those remedies that were used by the ancients, or, not finding any that were employed by them, to devise new ones from the similarity of the events."

Nikki Haley was presented with the opportunity to show how knowledgeable she was in the study of history when asked about the causes of the American Civil War.

She failed. 

The former South Carolina Governor (whose state was the first to secede from the Union at the beginning of the Civil War) and Trump United Nations Ambassador who is increasingly seen by Anti-Trump Republicans as their rescue from the MAGA abyss, badly stumbled in her response. 

First, she defensively replied to the questioner by saying "Well, don't come with an easy question."

You kidding. 

Then her response did not mention slavery at all as a leading cause of the conflict. Please read it below. 

"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? I think it always comes down to the role of government and what the rights of the people are. I will always stand by the fact that I think government was intended to secure rights and freedoms of the people. It was never meant to be all things to all people. Government doesn't need to tell you how to live your life. They don't need to tell you what you can and can't do. They don't need to be a part of your life. They need to make sure that you have freedom. We need to have capitalism. We need to have economic freedom. We need to make sure we do all things that individuals have the liberty so 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."

The questioner then pointed out that in that her very wordy answer about the need to preserve individual freedoms did not mention the word "slavery."

To which, Haley's response was: 

"What do you want me to say about slavery?"

Are you kidding again?

When the questioner said "You've answered my question, thank you," Haley, instead of realizing she needed to fill in the historical blanks before the Democrats and their surrogates in reality journalism would have a field day, just went for the next question. 

Of course, the Biden/Harris Campaign, elated with the political softball Nikki Haley gave them, immediately took to social media, with the President posting:

https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1740221284284256645?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1740221284284256645%7Ctwgr%5E289e976817a30a139683b58f789973a806f6520b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffpost.com%2Fentry%2Fjoe-biden-nikki-haley-civil-war-slavery_n_658d32b4e4b0cd3cf0e494c7

The political journal Politico reported that Haley's response to the question did her no favors with Republican moderates and people of color she would need to win a general election with one Black Republican consultant, Shermichael Singleton calling her campaign after the poor answer "toast"

There are two ways to look at Nikki Haley's response to the question on the causes of the Civil War. 

First, she is totally ignorant of history (very sad in this case since she is the Governor of the state that started the secession crisis that led to the Civil War) which makes her disqualified, per Signore Machiavelli, to serve in high office. 

Or

She was pandering to the increasingly white nationalist Trump-DeSantis Republican base whose support she needs on some level to eclipse Donald 'I Killed Roe v Wade' Trump in the primaries. In that case, she should be disqualified from office because she is catering to the fringe racist views of the minority of the country. 

Also, remember that if Nikki Haley ever found herself in the Oval Office, she would likely embrace her party's position on reproductive freedom, limiting access to the ballot box, and restrictions on LGBTQ Civil Rights. 

So much for government standing out of the way of individual freedoms. 

Like Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, despite her efforts to clean up her historically and politically tone-deaf response to the question (good luck with that: nah) represents all that is wrong with the Republican Party. 

Her answer on the cause of the American Civil War proves that. 

Voters need to remember this in 2024. 

Do you want this person influencing history education guidelines for your children? 

Probably not.