# Nikki Haley announces US presidential run for 2024 (Not Trump please) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 17, 2023, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953 "2023-02-17T17:04:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2023, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953/141 "2023-12-28T23:11:56Z")
It’s no secret why she didn’t answer the question. So the fawning may please stop. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2023, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953/142 "2023-12-28T23:43:45Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > If you say slavery caused the Civil War, you are suggesting that white people in the North cared about the welfare of Black people. The South sure seemed to think so. That’s why they seceded. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2023, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953/143 "2023-12-28T23:47:55Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > If you say slavery caused the Civil War, you are suggesting that white people in the North cared about the welfare of Black people. I suggest you read the various states’ declarations of secession. It’s generally in the first sentence or two. The Civil War was about slavery, no need to detect any inferences. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953/144 "2023-12-29T00:06:38Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > I suggest you read the various states’ declarations of secession. It’s generally in the first sentence or two. I believe what @PhillyGuy was getting at was the fact that once upon a time, conservatives also talked about how the Civil War was primarily about whether or not to end slavery, because it showed whites being compassionate about Black people. (Abolitionists from the north at least.) It was a sort of virtue signaling that they were comfortable with at the time. Not to mention, that was how the Republican Party got its start after all. Now they are so far into the extreme that even acknowledging something so obvious is uncomfortable, because too many on the right don’t want to shame the south, or risk alienating the alt-right and other white supremacists. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953/145 "2023-12-29T00:17:19Z")
The South started the Civil War over slavery, and thereafter claims it was something else. The North fought the civil war to reclaim territory, and thereafter claims it was only over slavery. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953/146 "2023-12-29T01:16:05Z")
I mean, seriously, how hard would it have been for her to just riff on a Simpson’s bit from more than 20 years ago? > [Examiner](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000279/?ref_=tt_ch): All right, here’s your last question. What was the cause of the Civil War? > > [Apu](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000279/?ref_=tt_ch): Actually, there were numerous causes. Aside from the obvious schism between the abolitionists and the anti-abolitionists, there were economic factors, both domestic and inter… > > [Examiner](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000279/?ref_=tt_ch): Wait, wait… just say slavery. > > [Apu](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000279/?ref_=tt_ch): Slavery it is, sir. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953/147 "2023-12-29T01:17:24Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > I mean, seriously, how hard would it have been for her to just riff on a Simpson’s bit from more than 20 years ago? I won’t like that this was the first thing that popped in my head. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953/148 "2023-12-29T01:23:20Z")
Not sure Haley has accomplished a lot by catering to the rapidly diminishing southern apologist segment of the electorate. > [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > The South started the Civil War over slavery, and thereafter claims it was something else. The North fought the civil war to reclaim territory, and thereafter claims it was only over slavery. Northern leaders were very clear that they were prosecuting the war chiefly because 1) the North was attacked, and 2) to preserve the Union. Ending slavery was an additional justification that probably gets overemphasized by some in modern times, but it was invoked even back then. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953/149 "2023-12-29T01:26:14Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Northern leaders were very clear that they were prosecuting the war chiefly because 1) the North was attacked, and 2) to preserve the Union. That’s sort of like saying that someone didn’t fall to their death, they were killed by hitting the ground really hard. Technically accurate, but a bit disingenuous. (Not on _your_ part, let me clarify, but theirs.) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953/150 "2023-12-29T01:26:45Z")
Or she could have taken a page from Prime Minister Perry Pleaser of the _Jacob Two-Two_ books: > “If you’re so smart, Perry Pleaser, tell us: how long was the Seven Years’ War?” > “I do not respond to trick questions.” ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953/151 "2023-12-29T01:43:37Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Good gawd. > (BTW, she’s running.) > [@bobot](#): > > So the fawning may please stop. I see my ability to convey sarcasm effectively has seriously eroded over the years, so let me take another shot at what I was trying to say, with a little judicious editing. > [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > The ability to give context while answering a suspiciously simple question is the sign of an intelligent ~~question~~ person (typed the wrong word there). **It is not, however, a virtue for a political candidate whose job is to give voters a reason to support them, not to teach a history lesson.** After all, we’ve seen the effectiveness of a candidate who gives gives simplistic answers, never uses nuance, and can barely use two-syllable words or form a compound sentence. TL;DR @LSLGuy said it better than I did. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > Because her goal is _not_ to answer the question factually correctly. This isn’t a classroom where she’s a student regurgitating the text to some professor’s satisfaction. Her goal is to say whatever gets her more votes in the R primary. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953/152 "2023-12-29T02:36:24Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I believe what @PhillyGuy was getting at was the fact that once upon a time, conservatives also talked about how the Civil War was primarily about whether or not to end slavery, because it showed whites being compassionate about Black people. Maybe I missed that nuance. This is what I responded to: > [@](#): > > If you say slavery caused the Civil War, you are suggesting that white people in the North cared about the welfare of Black people. I will say right now that slavery was the cause of the Civil War, and I’m suggesting nothing about the North’s concern or lack thereof for Black people. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953/153 "2023-12-29T02:54:59Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > Maybe I missed that nuance. That’s because you omitted the last sentence of the paragraph which gave context to the bit you quoted. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953/154 "2023-12-29T03:01:05Z")
I reread it, and I think you’re right. I read the paragraph as, “This is the logical implication per se…also a common conservative opinion.” ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953/155 "2023-12-29T03:11:19Z")
I’m surprised she didn’t astound us with the fact that _Lincoln_ was a Republican and therefore the Democrats are the one who should be ashamed of slavery. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953/156 "2023-12-29T04:10:26Z")
I am not in any way, shape or form a Nikki Haley supporter other than to say she, alongside any other sack of potatoes and/or dry dog turds would be a better alternative than Trump. But I think this slavery question was an obvious gotcha and has little value in assessing her character beyond making her look dumb/racist/etc in the moment. I don’t care what she thinks about the Civil War. I’d be much more interested to hear what she has to say about racism _today_. What would her response be if she was POTUS and a white supremacist took an AR-15 into a black neighbourhood and shot up a school? That is the kind of thing that can and will happen in America on any given day. So what is her plan for that? How about the prison-industrial complex, or as some folks call it, modern-day slavery? Having said that, I think the instructive part for her in all of this is that what she has experienced today is a tiny fraction of what it would actually be like to be POTUS for a day. Every single day for the rest of your life, everyone around you is listening to every word you say and criticizing every single thing. You get in trouble for giving the right answer because right/wrong is a matter of opinion in the post-Trump world. You definitely get in trouble for saying the wrong thing and this could be anything at all. Say puppies are cute and you’ll be tomorrow’s headline as a kitten-hater. You get in trouble for saying the right thing but not saying it fast enough, when someone pulls a move like today and sets you up to fail. Every single day, Nikki. Forever. You can’t fart anymore. Can’t scratch your ass. Can’t give someone a handjob in a crowded theatre. Can’t ever make mistakes without having the 24-hour news cycle put you on repeat over and over and over with endless, breathless discussion of what a fuckup you are and how stupid people must be to trust you. Are you sure you want to do this Nikki? As you can see, the honeymoon period is already over. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953/157 "2023-12-29T04:14:57Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I’m surprised she didn’t astound us with the fact that _Lincoln_ was a Republican and therefore the Democrats are the one who should be ashamed of slavery. Actually, Ted Cruz tweeted that salient bit of information today, in response to Biden’s “It was slavery” tweet. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953/158 "2023-12-29T07:28:12Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > It’s a poisoned question for any R. AKA holding their feet to the fire. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953/159 "2023-12-29T11:28:42Z")
Quite right. And rightly so. I was pushing back at the people here saying it was a softball. Nope, not for them. It’s a pretty simple softball for a D. But Ds are (mostly) reality-based. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953/160 "2023-12-29T14:46:27Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > …Can’t give someone a handjob in a crowded theatre… I can think of at least three former Presidents since the Civil War who still did that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikki-haley-announces-us-presidential-run-for-2024-not-trump-please/979953.md?page=9)