Presidential candidate Ambassador Nikki Haley stepped in big guano with her response to a question at a Wednesday Town Hall in Berlin, New Hampshire. 

A little bad weather isn't going to stop us! Berlin, thank you for a great night on stop one of five in New Hampshire! pic.twitter.com/qZKRceNFmh

— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) December 28, 2023

A voter asked Haley the question, "What was the cause of the United States Civil War?" As a Daughter of the South and a former governor of a Confederate state, you would think Haley's answer would have been simple and fluid.

Apparently not.

On a cringe scale of 0 to 10, this is a 563. Hey @NikkiHaley: no need to phone a friend or consult Super PAC puppet masters when a one-word answer would suffice. Her fear of answering truthfully is just....bizarre. pic.twitter.com/Kx5uhgu4HY

— Stefan Mychajliw (@StefanMychajliw) December 28, 2023

“How government was going to run”?! Amazing how "government" is the lead-in, rather than the actual individual liberties Haley purports to be defending. 

I think it always comes down to the role of government and what the rights of the people are. And I will always stand by the fact that I think government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people.

The town hall voter didn't seem satisfied with her response, so he gave her a bit of a nudge, then pressed a bit harder. Finally, he said it was “astonishing” that Haley did not mention slavery in her response. Haley's response to this? “What do you want me to say about slavery?”

Haley then moved on to the next voter question.

The fortunate thing about this moment is that it knocked the conservative beer women's calendar off the radar. Haley's response rightly caused a backlash from all circles: Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, and everyone in between. On Thursday, Haley recalibrated her response on a local radio program, "Good Morning, New Hampshire." The DeSantis campaign jumped on the opportunity to mock Haley.

CLEANUP ON AISLE 5

LISTEN: Haley embarrassingly attempts to walk back her Civil War flub, explains that she couldn’t answer the simple question because the voter was a “Democrat plant.”

Nikki Haley doesn't have what it takes to win. pic.twitter.com/rKnqu96LjB

— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) December 28, 2023

Haley's indignant response, "Yes, I know it's about slavery. I'm from the South!" If that's the case, why didn't she say this initially? Most born and raised Southerners have passionate responses about the Civil War, whether you agree with them or not. Haley's non-answer on Wednesday, and especially her answer the next day on the radio program, sounded like it was crafted straight out of the Karl Rove handbook. Entrepreneur, producer, and political commentator Darvio Morrow sliced through the veneer of hypocrisy.

Haley knows better. After a white supremacist murdered members of the Emanuel AME Church in 2015, she supported the removal of the Confederate flag from government grounds.

The fact that the same person who once said she was "proud" to lead the effort to remove the flag gave that answer about the Civil War shows a level of cynicism and disdain for her own voters that stands out, even in 2023.

Then, astonishingly, Haley claimed it was a "Democrat plant," who asked the question and that Biden's campaign is after her because she's the only candidate who can win.

“It was definitely a Democrat plant,” said Haley. “That’s why I said, what does it mean to you? And if you notice, he didn’t answer anything. The same reason he didn’t tell the reporters what his name was.”

In front of a North Conway, NH crowd later that morning, Haley sounded even more "nuanced," referencing "the lesson" and "bigger issue," behind the Civil War. The "lesson of what it means to be a free individual."

Huh?

Nikki Haley again addresses her answer on the cause of the Civil War: pic.twitter.com/1ABNx6CkOh

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) December 28, 2023

The very left-leaning Meidas Touch unearthed a 2010 video of Haley as South Carolina Governor being asked a similar question, and being just as equivocal with her response. 

FLASHBACK: During a 2010 interview with neo-Confederates, Nikki Haley avoided saying the the Civil War was fought over slavery and instead implied the South was “fighting for tradition” while the Union was “fighting for change.” pic.twitter.com/66be5iiw1y

— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) December 28, 2023

Nevertheless, certain legacy media circles are still flossing Haley as the only one able to beat Trump, Civil War-gate notwithstanding.

Nikki Haley is now Donald Trump's main challenger in the 2024 GOP primary, although she still trails the former president by a large distance, according to a poll.

A Rasmussen Reports survey of 792 likely Republican voters shows that the former South Carolina governor is the second-placed candidate in the GOP primary at 13 percent while Trump is way out ahead with 51 percent.

Haley, who has seen some momentum for her 2024 campaign off the back of strong performances in the televised debates, has seen her support rise marginally in the primary and is up four points from the 9 percent she recorded in a previous Rasmussen poll in November when Trump was on 50 percent.

The survey also arrived after a December 17 CBS poll showed that Haley had narrowed Trump's lead in New Hampshire to 15 points (44-29 percent).

Then there are others who surmise that Haley is simply vying to be Trump's running mate, though his recent comments regarding her would seem to put those fears to rest.

Time will tell, but if this Civil War-gate continues to have legs, it may well be the final nail in the coffin of the Nikki Haley campaign.