If Haley can't say 'slavery' — can she defend Trump's 'racist' attacks toward her: analyst

Donald Trump sees Nikki Haley as the closest Republican behind him, so he's questioning whether she can legally run for the presidency.

Political strategist, Dr. Basil Smikle, Ph.D., appearing on CNN's "Out Front" with Erin Burnett, accused the former president of trafficking in hate by attempting to bring back a debunked accusation to score political points.

"It's racist, it's xenophobic, it manifested his own presidential aspirations in doing this against Barack Obama. Does it resonate outside of the Republican Party? No. But for his core base, it certainly does," he said.

Read More: Nikki Haley shows the GOP base is all about racism and oligarchy

Earlier on Monday, Trump reposted a conservative outlet's suggestion that Haley was a so-called anchor baby.

His repost of a false story reads: "In Niki Haley's situation, reports indicate that her parents were not U.S. citizens at the time of her birth in 1972... this disqualifies Haley from presidential or vice-presidential candidacy under the 12th amendment."

According to the Associated Press, Haley is indeed a natural-born U.S. citizen and eligible to serve as president.

They confirmed that the former ambassador to the United Nations was born on Jan. 20, 1972, in Bamberg, South Carolina, according to information on her official website when she was governor of the state.

Despite the facts on her side, Smikle's wondering how Haley can rebound after stepping into a political dung pile when asked what caused the Civil War during a New Hampshire town hall.

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

A week later, the candidate vying to become the GOP presidential candidate tried to walk it back, stating: “I should have said slavery right off the bat..."

Smikle thinks her past gaffes could haunt her when she should attempt to fight back.

Read More: What Nikki Haley’s gaffe reveals about the GOP

"What will be interesting to me is how Haley responds," he said. "I'm interested to see if Nikki Haley, who can't say the word 'slavery', actually finds a way to inject her race and ethnicity in any kind of pushback."

"It probably won't work for her if she does that, but it'll be interesting to see," he closed.

See the video below or at the link here.