Like President Trump, I’m no historian. So I do my homework. Would that he.
Earlier this week Mr. Trump painted George Washington and Gen. Robert E. Lee as not only contemporaries, but practically best friends when he said the two had much in common as slave owners and that if we vilify Lee, so must we Washington.
Mr. Trump was referring to those taking issue with Confederate statues and memorabilia, which in a series of Thursday morning tweets he called “beautiful,” and then posited the next shoe to drop is to tear down everything that has Washington’s mug on it.
“So will George Washington now lose his status?” the president challenged.
This is the kind of unchecked banter found in coffee shops — where hyperbole flows as freely as bad advice.
As a founding father, Washington helped craft the U.S. Constitution whose very core intimates that slavery should be abolished. Did Washington own slaves? Unfortunately yes, as did almost all successful men of that time. But Washington, et al, wrote the Constitution for future generations, knowing it would not be accepted if it called for the outright abolishment of slavery.
Washington eventually freed his slaves, and in 1786 famously said “There is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it [slavery.]”
Lee, on the other hand, quit the U.S. Army and then tried to overthrow the country in an effort to preserve slavery. Today, that qualifies as treason.
And as for the statues honoring Lee and his ilk, many were erected decades after the Civil War when the Ku Klux Klan enjoyed brief resurgence.
Will we ever be free of this racist stain? To quote Shakespeare’s Lady McBeth, “Out, damn’d spot!”
MR. TRUMP took the same approach to equating the violence last weekend between neo-Nazis, white supremacists and nationalists and those who opposed them in Charlottesville, Va.
“Both sides” were responsible for the violence, Mr. Trump said.
Mr. President, you’re spreading fake news.
On Friday night, a racist mob marched with torches while shouting messages of hate. They were equipped with semi-automatic guns and clubs, wore helmets, carried shields and waved Confederate flags and swastikas.
On Saturday, counterprotestors amassed to protest such vile behavior.
And yes, when a car driven by an affirmed neo-Nazi plowed into the crowd killing a young woman and severely injuring others, things got out of hand. But to say the two sides were equally guilty of the violence is misleading.
Mr. Trump also said there were “very fine people” in the alt-right group.
No, Mr. President, you’re wrong.
There are no good neo-Nazis, white supremacists or terrorists.
ON WEDNESDAY night the people of Charlottesville held a beautiful candlelight vigil honoring Heather Heyer, the young woman killed in Saturday’s melee. Hundreds of people held candles, not torches. And instead of chanting hate slogans, they sang melodic spirituals.
We know the way, but we must be strong to stay on track.
