Donald Trump's controversial slavery comments reveal his secret weapon: report

Donald Trump and Nikki Haley are both GOP presidential contenders who made similarly controversial Civil War comments, but only one is paying for it, and that's because Trump has the advantage, a new report says.

Haley left slavery out of her answer when asked what caused the Civil War, and Trump suggested the Civil War should have been "negotiated," ignoring that doing so would have continued the establishment of slavery in America. These issues were essentially the same, according to a writer for The Atlantic.

"Though he mocked Haley’s answer as 'three paragraphs of bullsh-t,' a refusal to acknowledge slavery’s role in the war is at the core of Trump’s gaffe too: A negotiated settlement was unlikely, because the southern states were determined to continue enslaving Black people, and any negotiation that allowed that to continue would have been barbaric," the article states. "As Ta-Nehisi Coates explained in The Atlantic in 2011, arguing that the Civil War was 'tragic' misses the point of its triumph in ending slavery."

According to the report, the response from the public shows how Haley and Trump are treated differently.

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"But the reception of the two remarks has been distinctly different. Haley has centered her campaign on her competence and her no-nonsense affect, and the botched pander undermined both of those," according to the report. "She encountered a sudden surge of negative publicity and spent the next few days walking back and explaining her answer. Trump’s commentary, by contrast, elicited the same kind of shrug that so many things he says do. He’s made no effort at damage control and moved on entirely."

The report states that part of the reason for the different reactions is that Trump "produces so many outrageous comments that it’s hard to keep attention on any one of them for very long."

The report continues:

"Trump also benefits from being a very well-known quantity: No one expects him to know anything about history, and people know he approaches everything as a deal."

And that, it appears, is Trump's secret weapon against Haley.

"It’s that the lower expectations attached to him mean almost no misstep hurts him. Trump and Haley are effectively running in entirely different elections, yet only one of them can win," the article states.