Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley had another awkward moment during an interview on Tuesday. The presidential candidate, who finished in third place in Iowa’s caucuses on Monday, gave a rather curious answer when asked if the GOP is a racist party.

During an appearance on Fox News with host Brian Kilmeade, she was asked if she is “involved in a racist party.”

Haley responded: “No, we’re not a racist country, Brian – we’ve never been a racist country.”

She continued, saying that she “faced racism” when she was growing up but affirmed that “today is a lot better than it was then.”

Our goal is to lift up everybody, not go and divide people on race or gender or party or anything else. We've had enough of that in America. That's why I'm so passionate about doing this. I don't want my kids growing up where they're sitting there thinking that they're disadvantaged because of a color or a gender. I want them to know that if they work hard, they can do and be anything they want to be in America.

Nikki Haley: "We've never been a racist country" pic.twitter.com/qcB0wTjvJS

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 16, 2024

Conservative commentator Dan Bongino, not one to mince words, laid into Haley for her inconsistent response to the question.

“Her answer was absolutely incoherent…and then she goes on to say how when she was a kid she was a victim of racism…oh my God, this lady can’t answer a question,” Bongino said. “She’s asked a simple question…the answer is ‘no the United States isn’t racist but we’ve got a history here and we should acknowledge it -- it’s not a hard answer.”

.@dbongino heard the same incoherent answer I did. Why is @NikkiHaley so bad at this? She continues to trip herself up over variations of the same question. Repeatedly https://t.co/ykZ70BeEn5 pic.twitter.com/PCh52wy3d9

— Darvio Morrow (@DTheKingpin) January 16, 2024

Opposing the notion that one cannot achieve success due to their skin color is all well and good, but claiming that America has never been a racist country? Anyone who knows anything about American history knows this is blatantly false.

The United States allowed and facilitated the enslavement of black people for centuries. After the “peculiar institution” was abolished, the nation went through decades of Jim Crow laws specifically intended to make black people second-class citizens. There is absolutely nothing wrong with acknowledging this.

Fortunately, while there are still issues, America has largely moved past its racist history. As Bongino said, it’s not a hard question to answer, which brings me to my next point: Haley never answered Kilmeade’s question, which was about the Republican Party, not the entire country.

This comes after Haley flubbed an answer about what led to the Civil War. In her response, she made absolutely no mention of slavery, which was one of the primary driving forces behind the conflict.

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

While this unforced error did not derail her campaign, this latest failure to answer a question related to race might cause more voters to question whether she can handle the job – especially if she continues to make gaffes like this.