Confused Trump Says the Civil War and Reconstruction Were the Same Thing: ‘A Fancy Way of Saying the Civil War’

President Donald Trump botched 19th-century U.S. history on Friday, telling a crowd of supporters that the Civil War and Reconstruction were the same thing.

Trump held a rally in Corpus Christi, Texas, just days ahead of Tuesday’s primaries in the state. The president used the opportunity to tout his energy policies. The president began his speech by recounting a phone call he said he had with Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R):

You know, it’s interesting. The governor called me after the last election. He said, “You know, you did something no Republican has ever done. You won every border town and little border city, but every border town all the way up and down, all the way from one side to the other.” He said, “First time it’s ever happened since” – he used the word ‘Reconstruction,’ right? I said, “And by ‘Reconstruction,’ are you saying the Civil War? Is that what you’re saying?” That was a fancy way of saying the Civil War. He said that’s the first time it’s happened. We won every single, and largely Hispanic vote. We love the Hispanic voters. We love them.

Truth be told, ‘Reconstruction’ is not “a fancy way of saying the Civil War.” The term refers to the period after the Civil War, in which the former Confederate states were readmitted to the Union and had to adhere to the Constitution and federal statutes, particularly the newly-ratified 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, which abolished slavery, granted citizenship and the attendant rights to all persons born in the U.S. (including former slaves), and prohibited denial of voting rights based on race, respectively. In some cases, U.S. troops were deployed to ensure compliance with the law.

Reconstruction ended in 1877 as part of a deal to resolve the disputed presidential election of 1876. Aftward, southern states enacted notorious Jim Crow policies, which revoked the rights gained by Black people during the Reconstruction period, often violently.

Elsewhere in his speech, Trump congratulated Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) for an unexplained reason, even as the lawmaker faces calls to resign after a former staffer of his committed suicide after reportedly having an affair with him. The president also claimed a police officer told him about having a better sex life thanks to the economy. Trump also said a hypothetical nomination of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) to the U.S. Supreme Court would sail through the Senate because other senators think “he is a pain in the ass.”

Watch above via C-SPAN.

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