Donald Trump Presents: Drunk History

Trump participated in an interview with Sirius XM's P.O.T.U.S. station radio show where he spoke about one of his favorite historical figures who he apparently knows nothing about.

Trump recalled former President Andrew Jackson's reaction to the American Civil War which may be an indication that Trump is capable of communicating with the dead.

TRUMP: I mean, 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. He was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the Civil War. He said, “There's no reason for this.” 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 a Civil War? Why could that one not have been worked out?

The most obvious problem here is that Andrew Jackson died in 1845, a full 16 years before the Civil War began.

Slightly less obvious is the fact that Andrew Jackson was a slave-owner. Jackson owned 150 slaves, including women and children who lived on a plantation owned by Jackson, and if he had been alive at the time he probably would have sided with the Confederacy.

Trump claims he's "reading a book about" Jackson, but I find that hard to believe. Maybe he's just looking at the pictures. His claim that there was "no reason" for the Civil War makes you wonder if he knows anything about our nation's history.

A less generous interpretation of Trump's words could see this as an endorsement or at least tolerance of slavery, because his idea that the north and south could have somehow struck a deal to avoid a war implies that the south should have been allowed to keep their slaves.

There are foreign diplomats in Washington who undoubtedly know more about America's history than Trump does. There are probably South Korean diplomats in the country who are dumbfounded by the historical ignorance of the man who could ignite a war on the Korean peninsula at any moment.