Monday, May 1, 2017

Don't Know Much About History


As we just said, lie, bluff, lie, bluff:
In an interview set to air Monday, President Donald Trump mused about the Civil War and former President Andrew Jackson, saying he does not know why the Civil War couldn’t “have been worked out.” Speaking with Salena Zito on Sirius XM radio, Trump said the Civil War wouldn’t have happened if Jackson had been president at the time. “He was a very tough person, but he had a big heart. He was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the Civil War. He said, ‘There’s no reason for this,’” Trump said, incorrectly stating that Jackson reacted to the Civil War. Jackson died in 1845, while the war did not start until 1861. Trump added: “People don’t realize, you know, the Civil War, if you think about it, why? People don’t ask that question, but why was there the Civil War? Why could that one not have been worked out?” (our emphasis)
That's someone who is profoundly and serenely ignorant, who is at the same time "ignorant of his ignorance" (h/t Josh Marshall). To give him credit for even the simplest thought is to raise the bar waaay too high.