It’s a uniquely Trumpian problem: the president of the United States, locked in a bitter campaign with Democratic rival former Vice President Joe Biden, is trying to flip Minnesota, a state he narrowly lost in 2016. But Donald Trump, at a campaign rally in the North Star State on Friday, appeared to forget his Civil War history lessons (or never absorbed them in the first place) when he heaped praise on Confederate General Robert E. Lee — despite the state playing a decisive role for the Union at Gettysburg.
As the Star Tribune reports, Trump on Friday extolled the virtues of Robert E. Lee’s leadership:
“It was supposed to end immediately because the North was too powerful for the South. But it just shows when you have leaders, when you have a great general. And Robert E. Lee, he would have won, except for Gettysburg.”
State Sen. Jerry Newton, whose great-grandfather fought for the Union in the Civil War, called the president’s comments “unconscionable.” Continue reading.