Donald Trump has said quite a few bizarre things. He now thinks he knows something about American history. As usual, he’s delusional. [See stories here, here, and here] ” ‘[Ohio] also gave you a general who was incredible. He drank a little bit too much. You know who I’m talking about right? So Robert E. Lee was a great general. And Abraham Lincoln developed a phobia. He couldn’t beat Robert E. Lee,’ Trump said before launching into a monologue about Lee, Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant. He was going crazy. I don’t know if you know this story. But Robert E. Lee was winning battle after battle after battle. And Abraham Lincoln came home, he said, ‘I can’t beat Robert E. Lee,’ ‘ Trump said. ‘And he had all of his generals, they looked great, they were the top of their class at West Point. They were the greatest people. There’s only one problem — they didn’t know how the hell to win. They didn’t know how to fight. They didn’t know how,’ he continued. ‘And one day, it was looking really bad. And Lincoln just said: ‘You,’ hardly knew his name. And 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 he knocked the hell out of everyone. And you know the story. 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 alcoholic, frankly, give me six or seven more just like him.’ ‘He started to win. Grant really did — he had a serious problem, a serious drinking problem, but man was he a good general. And he’s finally being recognized as a great general. But Lincoln had almost developed a phobia, because he was having a hard time with a true great fighter, a great general Robert E Lee. But Grant figured it out. And Grant is a great general, and Grant came from right here.’ ”
This was Trump’s way of trying to praise Ulysses S. Grant, born in Ohio, where Trump was speaking. As serious students of Grant and Lee can tell, it’s a hot mess and reminds one of an episode of “Drunk History.”
Rev. Rob Lee, a collateral descendant of R. E. Lee, reacted to Trump’s comments. See stories here and here. “Last night I was disheartened to hear Donald Trump, our president, make comments about Robert E. Lee as a great general, as an honorable man. These were far from the true.” Rev. Lee continued, “Robert E. Lee fought for the continued enslavement of black bodies. It was for state’s rights, yes, but it was for state’s rights to own slaves.” Rev. Lee called his collateral ancestor an “idol of white supremacy and hatred.”
My friend and blogging colleague Kevin Levin put together a set of quotes about R. E. Lee from modern presidents that is well worth perusing. See here.
Proof that the victors don’t write the history, this view of Lee was carefully cultivated in the postwar years by a cabal of former confederates. This article isn’t great, but it does a fair job of outlining how the cult of Lee came about.
This story looks at the tin-plated wanna-be dictator’s comments about Ulysses S. Grant, calling him a “drunk.” The story isn’t perfect. But it does have several things right. In short, Trump’s claims remain a hot mess.
Student of the American Civil War 
Al, I think the Liar-in-Chief was actually trying to draw a strained, self-deluded erroneous analogy between Grant and himself, as a person once thought to have great, disqualifying flaws, who was disdained by the insiders and powers that be, but who “knew how to win,” and once given a chance, kept “wining and winning and winning.” Trump clearly sees himself that way.
Clint, that makes sense to me.
As usual, Republicans have shown that they’ve slept all through their history classes in school. Trump is the worst offender of this.
While I agree Trump is the worst, I don’t think we should limit historical skulduggery to just one party. It infects all politicians of whatever stripe.