'Very on-brand': Internet explodes after Nikki Haley can't say what caused Civil War

Nikki Haley on Wednesday was asked about the cause of the Civil War, and her reply went viral in the worst way.

Haley, who in the past was known for ultimately removing the confederate flag from the front of her state's Capitol, was asked at a campaign event: "What was the cause of the United States civil war?"

Haley appears to stall, saying sarcastically that it was "an easy question."

She continued:

“I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run,” she responded. “The freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do. What do you think the cause of the Civil War was?"

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The audience member appears to say he's not running for president, and Haley then continues:

“I think it always comes down to the role of government," she said. "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.”

Haley's comments were not taken well online.

MSNBC legal analyst Katie Phang simply said on her social media, "Very on-brand of the GOP."

CNN anchor Jim Sciutto Wednesday said, "And the 'freedom' in this case was the freedom to own people."

National security attorney Bradley P. Moss said, "How do you fumble such an easy question that allows you to appeal to party triumphalism?"

"It’s so easy to say something akin to 'they call us bigots but it was we Republicans who freed the slaves.' So weak," according to the lawyer.

Former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan said, "'What do you want me to say about slavery?' Followed by, 'Next question,'" he wrote on Wednesday. "Nikki Haley. For shame. The GOP, folks, the modern GOP."

Even Joe Biden chimed in, saying simply, "It was about slavery."

Patrick Rodenbush, who worked for the Obama and Biden administrations, said, "It's easy to dunk on Haley for this."

He then added:

"It's much harder to grapple with the fact that a leading republican candidate for POTUS made a calculated decision to not say 'slavery" [because] of how she thinks the party's base would react," Rodenbush wrote.

Watch the video at the link.