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| General Robert E. Lee |
Mr. Trump is wrong about this one as well as just about everything else. His meltdown Tuesday at Trump Tower should have been enough for any reasonable Republicans to call him out by name and cut their support. For a man so supposedly concerned about people rewriting history and wanting all the facts before assigning blame for the alt-right act of terror in Charlottesville, nobody in his position in my lifetime has ever shown such cynical disregard for the truth. For someone who pays lip service to the glory of our past, Trump's one focus has been to erase all traces of his predecessor out of existence. That level of vengeful obsession is itself scary and beneath the dignity of the office.
History is being changed all the time. Public displays of Confederate flags and statues came into prominence when reactionary forces regained control of the South by the arrival of the 20th century. The Jim Crow era that resulted was a concerted effort to rewrite Civil War history as some noble lost cause. Lincoln and Lee wanted to heal the nation's wounds after a devastating war and would've stood against these divisive symbols. That said, a respectful and peaceful resolution should involve moving these statues and battle flags to a more appropriate setting than the public square.
That said, I hope we don't get a replay of the mob who tore down the Confederate statue this week. That evokes memories of Iraq in 2003. Peaceful transition is what democracy should be all about.
