President Donald Trump thinks the Civil War could have been prevented under different leadership.
If President Andrew Jackson had still been in power, the war wouldnât have even happened, Trump told the Washington Examinerâs Salena Zito last week. She shared the audio from her interview on SiriusXM P.O.T.U.S.âs âMain Street Meets the Beltwayâ on Monday.
âI mean, had Andrew Jackson been a little bit later, you wouldnât have had the Civil War,â Trump said. âHe was a very tough person, but he had a big heart. He was really angry that he saw what was happening, with regard to the Civil War, he said, âThereâs no reason for this.ââ
âWhy could that one not have been worked out?â Trump asked.
Trump may have been awkwardly alluding to the nullification crisis of the 1830s, while Jackson was president. At that time, South Carolina declared that individual states had the right to reject federal laws they believed to be contrary to their own interests.
Many historians view the standoff as a precursor to the disputes over slavery and federal authority that came to a head during the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln invoked Jacksonâs efforts against rebellious South Carolinians (who tried to raise an army against him) as precedent for some of his own actions during the war.
Jackson, who died 16 years before the Civil War started, was also an unrepentant slave owner â so itâs not clear how he would have viewed a secession crisis sparked by the outright abolition of slavery.
Trump has frequently compared himself to Jackson and appears to be fascinated with the seventh president.
âMy campaign and win was most like Andrew Jackson, with his campaign,â Trump said. âAnd I said, when was Andrew Jackson? It was 1828. Thatâs a long time ago.â
Trump chose to hang a portrait of Jackson to the left of his desk in the Oval Office because âhis campaign and my campaign tended to mirror each other,â he told CBS News in an interview that aired on Monday.
He also visited Jacksonâs grave in Nashville last month, angering members of the Cherokee Nation whose ancestors were forcibly displaced and disenfranchised by Jacksonâs policies, including the infamous âTrail of Tearsâ in which thousands died.
During his visit, Trump told the crowd: âIt was during the revolution that Jackson first confronted and defied an arrogant elite. Does that sound familiar?â
Zach Carter contributed reporting.