Gettysburg Gibberish from the Former President

Imagine a former president of the United States making a “speech” that uses the word “beautiful” to describe the bloodiest battle of the Civil War that left 50,000 dead, injured, or captured soldiers. Donald Trump’s word salad took place over the weekend when he addressed a MAGA rally and mentioned the 1863 battle of Gettysburg:

“Gettysburg, what an unbelievable battle that was. It was so much, and so interesting, and so vicious and horrible, and so beautiful in so many different ways—it represented such a big portion of the success of this country. . . . Gettysburg, wow—I go to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to look and to watch.”

He sounds like the kid giving the oral book report who didn’t actually read the book and is using filler words … except this is far more serious. The GOP wants this man to be President of the United States … leader of the free world. Again. (Wasn’t the first time bad enough followed by his Big Lie after losing the 2020 election followed by the January 6th insurrection?)

I wonder what exactly about the battle at Gettysburg was “beautiful” to Trump? Was it the soldiers who had their arms and legs blown off? Or maybe the men mangled by musket balls who endured battlefield amputations? Or perhaps it was the ones who went missing during fierce fighting and were never found, leaving families with no closure about their loved ones. (Decades later, bodies were still being discovered over the almost 18 square miles of battlefield with the most recent found in 1996.)

To use the word “beautiful” when describing war is just stupid.

There was a time when remarks like Trump’s Gettysburg’s comments (not to mention the myriad of other things he does and says) would be headline news because of the bizarre words from someone who is asking to be a leader.

Remember the media feeding frenzy when Vice President Dan Quayle misspelled potato? But that was the media before Trump’s MAGA era came along in 2015. “Quayle would never hear the end of it,” the Washington Post wrote. “The media assault for this goof was truly relentless. … [it] crystallized the effects of this incident on Quayle’s public image … ‘that the rumors about the vice president are true – that he’s an idiot.’ ”

Now is not the time for the press to drop the ball when America needs 20/20 vision on Donald Trump. It’s up to voters to read, research, find accurate facts, and to hold the line in 2024.

Background:

-Newsweek: Donald Trump’s Gettysburg Remarks Trashed by Civil War Historian—’Unhinged’

-Washington Post: Dan Quayle’s ‘Potatoe’ Incident – 1992