Donald Trump’s flaming pile of crap
The “President” Donald Trump gave his almost nightly rally speech of proverbial bull on Friday night in Ohio. At that rally, Trump appeared to tell the equivalent of a good people on both sides type of story, somewhat based in fact, but presenting two generals from opposite sides of the Civil War as having been equally heroic. Like his buddy, Bill O’Reilly, he engages in his usual historical storytelling, with little if any attention to actual facts and records from the period of events described.
Trump noted: “So Robert E. Lee was a great general and Abraham Lincoln developed a phobia, He couldn’t beat Robert E. Lee.” There is no evidence that President Lincoln developed any phobia, at least not about the Civil War. Lincoln was often frustrated by the progress or lack of progress of the Union Army, but Grant was successful in the war, including the Battle of Shiloh (1862) and the Vicksburg Campaign (1863), and Lincoln did promote Grant.
Trump then said of Grant: “He had all of these generals. They looked great. They were the top of their class at West Point. They were the greatest people. There was only one problem: They didn’t know how the hell to win. They said ‘Don’t take him; he’s got a drinking problem.’ And Lincoln said, ‘I don’t care what problem he has. You guys aren’t winning.’ And his name was Grant, General Grant. And he went in and knocked the hell out of everyone. They said to Lincoln, ‘You can’t use him anymore, he’s an alcoholic’ and Lincoln said, ‘I don’t care if he’s an alcohol, frankly, get me six or seven just like him.’”
There is evidence that Grant did drink, although reports are mixed about whether he had a serious drinking problem. In addition, Grant was a decent student who graduated from West Point, but not at the top of his class; Lee was number two in his class at West Point. Lee was a very effective general, but some of his comments and lack of action during Reconstruction have been raised in the last twenty-four hours. While President Grant, a very popular general and hero post-war, enacted the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, Lee refused to condemn the group when asked to do so post-war.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.