One of the most jarring aspects of the Trump era has been the general historical illiteracy of the president’s critics. It runs deep, and it shows itself in the most unlikely of places.
On Monday, for example, the usual critics in the news and entertainment industries suggested it would be a none-too-subtle dog whistle to pro-Confederate types were the president to use Gettysburg as the location for his 2020 acceptance speech.
This makes no sense at all. At all.
“We have narrowed the Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech, to be delivered on the final night of the Convention (Thursday), to two locations – The Great Battlefield of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the White House, Washington, D.C. We will announce the decision soon!” the president revealed on Twitter.
We have narrowed the Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech, to be delivered on the final night of the Convention (Thursday), to two locations – The Great Battlefield of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the White House, Washington, D.C. We will announce the decision soon!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 10, 2020
Trump’s perpetually aggrieved critics responded swiftly, suggesting a darker, more insidious plot.
“We’ve reported that President Trump is considering his GOP nomination acceptance speech from the White House, but amid some criticism of that potential venue, the president is now floating another one,” said CNN’s Jeremy Diamond.
He added, “This time, he’s talking about the hallowed Civil War battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, but that could be controversial, too, particularly because this is a president who has consistently positioned himself as a defender of Confederate symbols and monuments to Confederate generals.”
Hilariously, CNN anchor Pamela Brown responded, “That’s a fair point to make.”
Elsewhere at the “resistance” cable news network, CNN anchor Erica Hill questioned why Trump is considering Gettysburg, of all places, for his acceptance speech.
“To think that now we’re looking at Gettysburg, where the president has in recent weeks really taken it upon himself to do his best to shore up the Confederacy, right?” she asked. “That we keep Confederate flags and monuments to Confederate generals going. That, too, leaves you scratching your head.”
The Associated Press, meanwhile, reported of the president’s proposed options that the “Civil War battlefield in Pennsylvania could also resurface the president’s repeated defense of monuments to heroes of the Confederacy.”
Then there is director and “resistance” favorite Rob Reiner, who thankfully does not work in news media, who said, “Trump brilliantly narrows down the location of his acceptance speech. Either break yet another law and do it at the WH, or do it at Gettysburg and celebrate your devotion to White Supremacy.”
Do none of these people know what happened at Gettysburg?
It is the site where Union officer Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain turned the tide of the war. It is the site of the battle that led to the eventual defeat of the Confederacy, the site where the future of the Union was secured, and the site where the end to slavery in the United States ensured.
It is the site where Republican President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, considered by many to be the greatest and most consequential speech in American political history.
How would it honor the Confederacy were the president to deliver his acceptance speech at the site of its greatest and most consequential defeat?
Reiner, again, has some theories.
“I know exactly what happened at Gettysburg,” said the man who apparently has yet to break character as Meathead. “CSA got its ass kicked. Perfect setting for the dog whistle.”
This also makes no sense. Then again, it seems anti-Trump “resistance” types stopped making sense a long, long time ago.
