'Chaos follows him': Nikki Haley warns America 'won’t survive' another 4 years of Trump

Many Donald Trump foes, from liberals and progressives to right-wing Never Trump conservatives, have accused the other GOP presidential hopefuls — apart from former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — of offering only tepid, lukewarm criticism of the former president. Christie, a one-time Trump ally, has been downright scathing in his attacks; former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, many Trump detractors argue, have been going much too easy on him.

But during a CNN townhall event that featured Haley and DeSantis on Thursday night, January 4, Haley warned that the United States "won't survive" the "chaos" that a second Trump term would create.

Haley said of Trump, "Chaos follows him. And we can't have a country in disarray and a world on fire and go through four more years of chaos. We won't survive it…. We have a country to save, and that means no more drama. No more taking things personally."

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However, CNN reporters Eric Bradner, Daniel Strauss, Arit John and Gregory Krieg note that Haley, like DeSantis, was "careful not to knock Trump over the specifics of" the four criminal indictments he is facing.

During the Iowa townhall, Haley also addressed a recent controversy that has been dogging her. Haley drew a lot of criticism from Democrats following a campaign event in New Hampshire, where she was asked about the causes of the U.S. Civil War and failed to mention slavery.

Haley told CNN's Erin Burnett, "I should have said slavery right off the bat, but if you grow up in South Carolina, literally in second and third grade, you learn about slavery. I was thinking past slavery, and talking about the lesson that we would learn going forward. I shouldn't have done that."

READ MORE: 'The South is very comfortable with our history': Nikki Haley defends slavery gaffe

Read CNN's full report on the Iowa townhall at this link.