Trump Doubles Down on Civil War and Andrew Jackson Comments: ‘Saw It Coming’
After his musings about the Civil War and Andrew Jackson generated sharp reaction, President Trump appeared to double down on the comments in a tweet.
President Andrew Jackson, who died 16 years before the Civil War started, saw it coming and was angry. Would never have let it happen!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2017
In an interview that aired on SiriusXM’s P.O.T.U.S. channel and was published by the Washington Examiner, Trump said that he didn’t understand why the Civil War was fought and that it wouldn’t have happened, “had Andrew Jackson been a little later.”
“He was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the Civil War,” Trump said of Jackson. “He said, ‘There’s no reason for this.’ ”
Jackson died in 1845 and the Civil War didn’t begin until 1861, prompting some to question Trump’s knowledge of American history.
In the tweet, Trump appeared to defend his comments, suggesting he did know that Jackson died 16 years before the war began but that the former president “saw it coming.”
(h/t Los Angeles Times)
Reality
That’s not what he said.
“Had Andrew Jackson been a little later you wouldn’t have had the Civil War. He was a very tough person, but he had a big heart,” Trump said in the interview with the Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito. “He was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the Civil War, he said, ‘There’s no reason for this.'”
And that still misses his other gaffe, of asking why the Civil War was fought in the first place:
“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?”
"Had Andrew Jackson been a little bit later, you wouldn’t have had the Civil War" @realDonaldTrump told @SalenaZito. Full intv at 2pE, Ch124 pic.twitter.com/d7PuRRm7Md
— SiriusXMPolitics (@SXMPolitics) May 1, 2017