Nikki Haley has 24 hours in New Hampshire she’d rather forget: Bizarre moment a NINE-YEAR-OLD compares her to ‘flip-flopping John Kerry’ after she was forced to clean-up Civil War comments

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley capped a 24 hours in New Hampshire she’d rather forget, coming face-to-face with a 9-year-old who compared her to John Kerry on Thursday afternoon.

The night before, Haley stuck her foot in her mouth at New Hampshire City Hall when asked what caused the Civil War and then made no mention of slavery.

She spent most of Thursday in the Granite State cleaning up those comments before heading to North Conway, where she again answered questions from viewers.

“So Chris Christie thinks you’re spanking the Donald Trump issue,” a child named Adam boldly told her. “And frankly, I agree with him. Basically, you’re the new John Kerry,” the child laughs.

Kerry was the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate who was criticized for constantly changing his position and lost to Republican incumbent George W. Bush.

“How can you change your mind so much in just eight years and will you forgive Donald Trump?” – the 9-year-old child asked then.

Christie, who is also running for the Republican nomination, criticized Haley for being too soft on Trump, her former boss.

Haley praised the young man and said politics often boils down to a “distraction.”

She responded that she had failed to appease either “anti-Trumpers” or “Trump supporters” with her stance against the ex-president, who is leading the GOP primary package.

“I don’t think I agree with many of his policies. But do I think he is the president who will move forward? No,” Haley answered. “We can’t handle the chaos anymore.”

She also used this issue to harass Christy.

“I mean, God bless him, he’s a friend.” He’s obsessed with Trump,” Haley said. “He sleeps, eats and breathes it every day.”

Christie was one of the few GOP candidates to base his campaign as a critic of Trump.

“I’m thinking about more,” Haley said. “If we do this, we will be no different from Trump.”

Earlier Thursday, Haley clarified that her comments about the Civil War did not mention slavery because “that’s the easy part.”

Haley told CNN there is “no doubt” that the Civil War was about slavery, adding, “But it was more than that.”

“It was about the freedom of every person. It was about the role of government,” she insisted.

She also stated this in an interview with the Pulse of New Hampshire radio show. that she answered that question by placing it in the context of what it means to Americans today.

“Of course, the Civil War was about slavery. We know this. That’s the easy part,” Haley said Thursday morning. “What I was saying was: What does this mean for us today?”

“For us today it means freedom. That’s what it’s all about,” said the former UN ambassador.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ communications director said Haley’s damage control measures were lax.

“Embarrassing cleanup attempt,” wrote Andrew Romeo on X. “Even if it’s true… If she can’t answer a question as simple as the cause of the Civil War, what does she think will happen to her in the future?” general election”.

“The Democrats will eat her lunch,” he added.

Critics included her Republican rivals in the 2024 election, as well as President Joe Biden, who joked on X (previously on Twitter): “It was about slavery.”

The former South Carolina governor also insisted Thursday morning that the man who sparked the response was sent as a straw man to get the media to attack her as her poll numbers soar in New Hampshire.

She jokingly told a viewer who asked a question on Wednesday, “Well, don’t ask easy questions.”

She then stated that the Civil War was fought over freedom and ideological differences in how governments should operate.

“I think the reason for the Civil War was the way the government was going to govern, the freedom of what people could and couldn’t do.”

A hopeful White House, currently battling for a distant second place behind Trump with DeSantis, then went on a tangent about government abuses and civil liberties.

“I think it always comes down to the role of government and the rights of the people, and I will always stand by the fact that, in my opinion, government is meant to ensure the rights and freedoms of the people.

“It was never meant to be all things to all people. The government doesn’t need to tell you how to live.

“They don’t have to tell you what you can and can’t do. They don’t have to be a part of your life. They need to make sure you have freedom.

“We need capitalism. We need economic freedom. We need to make sure that we do everything to make sure that people have freedoms, that they can have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to do or be what they want without government interference.”

Going off on a tangent, she tried to return the question to the voter who told her he wasn’t running for the Oval Office in 2024.

He is then heard saying, “In 2023, I am surprised that you answered this question without mentioning the word slavery.”

Haley asks him, “What do you want me to say about slavery?” Next question.’

New Hampshire holds the nation’s first primary, which comes just days after the Iowa caucuses, making it important for those vying for the nomination to run for president.

With just 26 days until the Granite State election, Haley is gaining traction in the polls, with one poll showing her trailing Trump by just 4 percentage points, with 29 percent support among Republican voters.

On Thursday, she clarified that she is well aware that slavery caused the Civil War.

Historians generally agree that slavery, and the differences of opinion between northern and southern states over whether it should be abolished, was a major cause of the Civil War.

The southern states of the United States, including Haley’s home state of South Carolina, were pro-slavery, while the northern states were anti-slavery.

South Carolina’s proclamation, which outlined the reasons for its secession from the Union in 1860, cited “the growing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery” as the reason for the state’s secession from the Union.

But Haley’s refusal to acknowledge this has angered many across the political spectrum.

Meanwhile, DeSantis’ campaign circulated video of the conversation on social media, adding the comment “Uh-huh.”

Issues surrounding the origins of the Civil War and its legacy remain largely in Haley’s home state, and she has previously been pressed about the war’s origins.

When she ran for governor in 2010, Haley, in an interview with the now-defunct activist group then known as the Palmetto Patriots, described the war as between two disparate sides fighting over “tradition” and “change” and said the Confederate flag was “It’s not something racist.”

During the same campaign, she dismissed the need to lower the flag from the Houses grounds, calling her Democratic rival’s bid to remove it a desperate political stunt.

Five years later, Haley called on lawmakers to remove the flag from a dais near a monument to Confederate soldiers after a mass shooting in which a white gunman killed eight black church members attending a Bible study.

Haley said at the time that the shooter had “stolen” the flag from those who saw the flag as a symbol of “sacrifice and heritage.”

Nationally, aggregate polling data from FiveThirtyEight suggests Haley could soon overtake Ron DeSantis for second place in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Despite this, she has a long way to go to defeat Donald Trump, for whom 61.2% of Republicans have currently pledged to vote.

Even in her home state, Haley trails far behind, with less than half the votes Trump has.