Trump: ‘Why was there the Civil War?’

by Rebecca Savransky - 05/01/17 9:03 AM ET

President Trump during an interview that airs Monday questioned why the country had a Civil War and suggested former President Andrew Jackson could have prevented it had he served later.

“I mean had Andrew Jackson been a little bit later you wouldn’t have had the Civil War. He was a very tough person, but he had a big heart,” Trump said during an interview with the Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito.

“He was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the Civil War, he said, ‘There’s no reason for this.'”

Jackson, the nation’s seventh president, died in 1845. The Civil War began in 1861.

{mosads}The president further questioned why the country could not have solved the Civil War.

“People don’t realize, you know, the Civil War, if you think about it, why?” Trump said during the edition of “Main Street Meets the Beltway” scheduled to air on SiriusXM.

“People don’t ask that question, but why was there the Civil War? Why could that one not have been worked out?”

During the interview, the president also compared his win to that of Jackson.

“My campaign and win was most like Andrew Jackson, with his campaign. And I said, when was Andrew Jackson? It was 1828. That’s a long time ago,” Trump said.

“That’s Andrew Jackson. And he had a very, very mean and nasty campaign. Because they said this was the meanest and the nastiest. And unfortunately, it continues.”

Trump has in the past drawn comparisons between his campaign and that of Jackson.

Ahead of a March rally, the president compared his presidency to Jackson’s while marking the birthday of the seventh president.

Speaking outside The Hermitage, Jackson’s estate in Nashville, Tenn., Trump referred to Jackson as the people’s president.

“It was during the revolution that Jackson first confronted and defied an arrogant elite. Does that sound familiar?” Trump said ahead of his rally earlier this year.

Trump said his visit to The Hermitage was “inspirational” and that he is “a fan.”

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