We’ve already taken apart the Washington Post’s appalling take on President Trump’s speech Friday night in Ohio; the one that went, “Trump calls on blacks to ‘honor’ him with votes, then praises Confederate general Robert E. Lee.”
We’d like to give CNN correspondent Manu Raju credit for actually posting the transcript of Trump’s speech — in which he built up Lee’s military prowess to emphasize the one-of-a-kind talents of Ulysses S. Grant — but he had to blow it by tweeting this first:
Here are Trump’s comments tonight calling the leader of the Confederate army a “great general” multiple times https://t.co/jCtEdR1NFg
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 13, 2018
True — totally out of context, but technically true. But then Raju posted an incomplete transcript of the speech — 17 whole minutes later —but left the original take up:
Here are his comments: pic.twitter.com/8le6IRqgPO
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 13, 2018
Go ahead and lop off the part where Trump gets to praising Grant, an Ohio native, as the superior general.
Anyone who knows history can figure that out. It’s too bad kids growing up now will never have history properly taught to them if this is the best today’s generation of journalists can do after years of college.
Yes, but the entire transcript makes it clear he is praising GRANT…not Lee, more. https://t.co/4NrKtJUEdl
— Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D., M.S. (@Neoavatara) October 13, 2018
I believe Lincoln originally asked Lee to be a Union General, he declined because of loyalty to Virginia. He had experience from Mexican-American war and was by all accounts a great general.
Saying he’s a great general doesn’t mean your agreeing with what he was fighting for.
— David Scott Jenkins (@dscottjenkins) October 13, 2018
Recommended
If Lee was a terrible general, why did Lincoln need to urgently draft Grant? It’s as if you’re knowingly conflating the cause with the people, all in a reach to get Trump. #journalism
— Razor (@hale_razor) October 13, 2018
Hmm … a reach to get Trump, you say?
Only @cnn would try to conflate talking about a man's ability to lead troops with also supporting the cause he fought for and then cry and wonder why hemorrhoids and some forms of cancer are more popular than they are.
— Bretts Doppleganger (@Mike__Head) October 13, 2018
You Leftists are all the same. His point was that Lee was a great general but it took a greater general – Grant (who had drinking problems) to beat him.
— Susan Christine (@LoveOireachtas) October 13, 2018
Why are you so dishonest?
— My Friends Call Me Boof (@JammieWF) October 13, 2018
Also: it’s sweet you have more than 200,00 followers and you have the dain bramage.
— Buttload the Usurper (@MetricButtload) October 13, 2018
You are fake news.
You really are.https://t.co/mjVS8UXu9U
— Mobb Not So Deep (@JimDelRey) October 13, 2018
You criticize Trump for calling you #FakeNewsCNN by providing #FakeNews .
— Dev Woolwine (@ddwoolwine) October 13, 2018
HISTORY REPEATS: Trump is sending a barrel of whatever Mattis is drinking to the rest of his generals. Turns out it's liberal media tears. Thanks for your contribution.
— 100 Proof (@ChampionCapua) October 13, 2018
Here’s a righteous mini-thread on NBC News’ tweet from Twitchy favorite @AG_Conservative:
It's insane how predictably dishonest the media is…
All I needed to see was that the clip cuts off halfway through the story to know they were intentionally leaving out context. https://t.co/1uqzR9C0CJ
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) October 13, 2018
If you want to see Trump's full comments, they are below. His history stories are always questionable and rarely accurate, but the point of the story was about how Lincoln chose Grant to beat Lee. pic.twitter.com/ghmZKcbdxi
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) October 13, 2018
I think Trump is making some silly point about how Grant managed to be great despite liking to drink, but it's obviously not a story simply meant to idolize Lee.
And Lee being a good General isn't something really disputed by any serious historian.
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) October 13, 2018
And the reason he is telling this story is to praise Ulysses S. Grant, who is from Ohio (where the rally is taking place).
Seems obvious that Trump views himself similarly (imperfect person who knows how to win). Whether the analogy is accurate is a different topic.
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) October 13, 2018
Last point: Media running w/ dishonest "Trump gave a speech praising Lee" story will get lots of clicks and retweets, but it ultimately helps Trump because it lowers their credibility to 0 for when he does say something wrong.
They are hurting the country with this crap.
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) October 13, 2018
Sorry, have to add this: The NBC post wasn't just dishonest and misleading, but it was also 100% false. If you read the comments in context, clear that "incredible" is referring to Grant.https://t.co/1uqzR9C0CJ
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) October 13, 2018
Damn. Good parable.
— Web Smith (@web) October 13, 2018
If you want a similar British version of this story, it’s basically how Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1940.
— Ken Gardner (@KenGardner11) October 13, 2018
Winston Churchill — isn’t that the man a freaking U.S. astronaut had to apologize to the mob for quoting?
Let’s see if any of the reporters who rushed up tweets about Trump lavishing praise upon a Confederate general update them or, better yet, deleted them and repost with some context.
Related:
Puh-LEEZE! WaPo headline about Trump’s Robert E. Lee comment is PEAK 2018 ‘journalism’ https://t.co/yI88vOj7kh
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) October 13, 2018
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