Donald Trump Questions Why the Civil War Happened

He also claimed Andrew Jackson—who died 16 years before the war began—was “really angry” about it.

Bastiaan Slabbers/ZUMA


In an interview with Salena Zito for “Main Street Meets the Beltway,” President Donald Trump questioned why the Civil War took place and asserted “swashbuckler” Andrew Jackson would have been able to prevent the war.

Trump said that Jackson—who died in 1845, 16 years before the Civil War started—”was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the Civil War, he said ‘There no reason for this.’ People don’t realize you know, the Civil War, if you think about it, why?”

Trump’s historically dubious comments recalled his remarks during Black History Month in February, when the president praised Frederick Douglass as “somebody who’s done an amazing job.”

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