Dispatch: South Carolina, 1860:

The victory of Republican presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 elections convinced South Carolina legislators that it was no longer in their state’s interest to remain in the Union. South Carolina declared its secession from the United States. Citing “an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding states to the institution of slavery,” South Carolina insisted that the Northern states had breached their constitutional obligation to enforce federal laws like the Fugitive Slave Act and had “united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States” who would “inaugurate a new policy, hostile to the South, and destructive of its beliefs and safety.” “We, therefore, the People of South Carolina . . . have solemnly declared that the Union heretofore existing between this State and the other States of North America, is dissolved.” Within months, a total of eleven slaveholding states declared their secession from the Union. And war came. The Union defeat of the Confederate army was nothing less than a defeat of secessionist theories of the Constitution. It also opened up the door to profound changes in the federal system during Reconstruction.


The above is a summary of South Carolina's Declaration of Secession from The United States of America. Let's flash forward to the present.

Voter: "What was the cause of the United States Civil War?"

Nikki Haley: "Don't come with an easy question, right? I mean, I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was gonna run — the freedoms and what people could and couldn't do. What do you think the cause of the Civil War was?"

Voter: "I'm not running for president."

Haley: "I mean, I think it always comes down to the role of government. We need to have capitalism, we need to have economic freedom. We need to make sure that we do all things so that individuals have the liberties so that 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."

Voter: "In the year 2023, it's astonishing to me that you can answer that question without mentioning the word 'slavery.'"

Haley: "What do you want me to say about slavery? Next question." (H/T Kyle Griffin)

Nikki Haley was asked by a voter in New Hampshire tonight about the cause of the Civil War. “I mean, I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run. The freedoms and what people couldn't do,” Haley answered. pic.twitter.com/g9jUDqpa2F

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) December 28, 2023

Haley is a former governor of the State of South Carolina. In 2015 she received high praise for removing the confederate flag from the statehouse grounds. This was after the racist mass murder at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. In 2019, she said this.“ She didn't take the flag down because it was the right and moral thing to do. She took it down for political expediency.

Basically, the woman who took down the confederate flag at the South Carolina capitol after the church massacre now can’t utter the word “slavery”. The GOP, the party of Lincoln, has officially become the party of white supremacy.

That is where they are.

&
Raine