Nikki Haley said in a 2010 video that states have the right to secede from the Union, a view that was comprehensively shot down by the Supreme Court ? and the Civil War.
As Haley launches a 2024 presidential run, the former South Carolina governor was shown falsely telling a pro-Confederacy group that the constitution permits states to quit the U.S.
“I think that they do,” Haley said when asked if states have the right to secede. “I mean, the Constitution says that.”
She also told the Sons of the Confederacy that the Civil War was a battle of “tradition” versus “change,” not racism and slavery.
“I think you had one side of the Civil War that was fighting for tradition and one side of the Civil War that was fighting for change,” Haley said.
In fact, the Supreme Court ruled in a post-Civil War case that states do not have the right to secede.
Haley also said she had no objection to a potential month of celebrating Confederate heritage, comparing it to Black History Month.
The Confederacy was rooted in racism and the southern states seceded from the Union in a failed effort to keep slavery legal indefinitely.
As governor of South Carolina, Haley raised hackles among some far right wing supporters by moving to remove the Confederate flag from the state capitol in 2015.
The shocking 13-year-old video surfaced at an awkward time just hours before Haley delivered a speech in Charleston to formally launch her 2024 Republican presidential bid.
Haley, 51, says she is the voice of a new generation of GOP leadership. She is the first of several expected challengers to former President Donald Trump, who announced his comeback White House campaign last November.
“We’re ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past,” Haley said in her speech Wednesday to scores of cheering supporters.
“America is not past its prime it’s just that our politicians are past theirs,” she added.
While barely mentioning Trump, Haley took pot shots at President Biden for presiding over inflation, crimes and illegal immigration.
“Our future is slipping. Our leaders are failing,” she told a cheering crowd. “No one embodies that failure more than Joe Biden.”
Haley is polling in the low single digits, far behind Trump and potential contenders Gov. Ron DeSantis and ex-Vice President Mike Pence.
