- “Nobody’s going to do that,” she said, trying to clarify the comments
- Said that ‘states have the right to make the decisions their people want to make’
- The former governor of South Carolina has previously been criticized for comments about the Civil War
The legacy of the nation’s Civil War has risen again in Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign, this time as she tried to clean up an odd comment and take a laissez-faire stance on Texas’ secession from the union.
The former South Carolina walked back, previously saying that states have the right to “make the decisions their people want to make” and that if Texas wants to secede “they can do so.”
She brushed off the issue Thursday in an interview with Fox News digital.
‘It’s not about separation. Nobody’s going to do that. That’s not what people are talking about. “What they’re talking about is why the president isn’t there to keep Texans safe,” she said.
She spoke amid anger over the border crisis and a test of will and jurisdiction that has already gone to the Supreme Court.
If you don’t secede at first: Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley responded to comments saying Texas ‘can do that’ after being asked if the state could secede from the Union
The Supreme Court has allowed the federal government to remove razor wire installed by the Texas Guard at the direction of the state’s governor, Gregg Abbott. The Biden administration asked the Border Patrol for permission to cut razor wire on a stretch of the Rio Grande where border deaths have occurred.
Haley made her original comments to interviewer Charlamagne Tha God on “The Breakfast Club.”
He asked her about Texas secession — an idea that has its roots in the 1900s — in the context of the border dispute.
“If Texas decides that’s what they want to do. They can do that,” Haley replied.
“If that entire state says, ‘We don’t want to be part of America anymore,’ I mean, that’s their decision. But I don’t think the government needs to tell people how to live, how to do anything. “I mean, I think we should let freedom live,” she said.
Her interviewer asked whether as president she would use force if Texas tried to secede over the border issue. “I believe in states’ rights. “I believe everything should be as close as possible to the people to decide,” she said.
War of Words: Haley botched a question about the causes of the Civil War during her campaign in New Hampshire. She later admitted that it was ‘of course’ about slavery
It comes amid a tense conflict between the federal government and Texas over control of the border
The incident came just over a month after Haley gave a bizarre response when asked about the reason for the Civil War and gave a lengthy response that completely ruled out slavery.
“What do you want me to say about slavery?” she told the man who asked her about it in the New Hampshire man, who her team later accused of being a plant. She was criticized at the time by her main rivals at the time, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and subsequently cleaned up the comment.
“Of course the Civil War was about slavery,” she said.
Her secession stumble comes as Haley campaigns in her home state, trailing former President Donald Trump by double digits there. She still holds national fundraising campaigns and regularly does national cable interviews.
I believe that states have the right to make the decisions that their peoples want to make