Not all of us (myself included) were schooled in the United States, so you may have heard Donald Trump’s reference to Andrew Jackson’s opinion on the U.S. Civil War and not considered it unusual (and hey, same goes for many people who were schooled in the U.S. and studied U.S. history). However, it is unusual for this simple reason:
Andrew Jackson, 7th president of the United States, died in 1845, a full 16 years before the Civil War, which started in 1861.
Here’s a CNN report featuring the recording of Trump’s statements, which were made during an interview with the Washington Examiner:
It’s one thing to make stuff up, and it’s another thing to make stuff up about things in an age where facts can easily be looked up. But it’s a completely bizarro thing to try and spin this mistake, as Republican communications strategist Paris Dennard did: