Donald Trump Andrew Jackson Why Did Civil War Happen

Photo: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster.

President Trump definitely hasn't done his homework on U.S. history.

In an interview set to air on SiriusXM Monday, Trump didn't know why the Civil War happened — or when it was, really. "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 told the Washington Examiner's Salena Zito.

He added, "He was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the Civil War, he said 'There's no reason for this.'" Considering President Jackson died 16 years before the war began, it's highly unlikely he "was really angry" or "saw" anything.

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Not only was he not in the Oval Office during the Civil War, but he was dead by the time it began. (For anyone about to hit up Google: The Civil War started in 1861, and Andrew Jackson's presidency ended in 1837. So, not even that close).

Digging himself a much deeper hole, Trump questioned why the Civil War happened, saying, "People don't realise, you know, the Civil War, if you think about it, why? People don't ask that question, but why was there the Civil War? Why could that one not have been worked out?"

Here's Trump's full answer on "swashbuckler" Andrew Jackson and the Civil War: "Why could that one not have been worked out?" pic.twitter.com/Zb8OQaDqyq
— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) May 1, 2017

Ummm, someone needs to give Trump a seventh grade history book. Not knowing who was president during the Civil War is one thing (it was Abraham Lincoln, in case you're wondering), but not knowing why it happened is a much larger issue.

People were obviously baffled by the comments and happy to clue the president of the United States in on why the North and South were at war for years.

happy to be online today to relitigate the civil war in the year 2017
— Gideon Resnick (@GideonResnick) May 1, 2017

Andrew Jackson was a slaveholding plantation owner. He also died 16 years before the Civil War began. This Trump answer is astonishing. https://t.co/wdKNkUOx1t
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) May 1, 2017

1) Jackson did not see the CW. He was very dead.
2) "the Civil War, why?"
3) Holy shit
4) Has Trump ever mentioned slavery? pic.twitter.com/VtdIuTnmDz
— Vann R. Newkirk II (@fivefifths) May 1, 2017

Trump's confusion also caused some people to worry about the future.

Given Trump's comments this morning I'm now less scared of World War III than Civil War II.
— Josh Gondelman (@joshgondelman) May 1, 2017

Even Chelsea Clinton felt the need to jump in and tell Trump the answer is slavery. The Civil War was about slavery.

1 word answer: Slavery. Longer: When Andrew Jackson died in 1845 (16 yrs before the Civil War began), he owned 150 men, women and children. https://t.co/Icg6puG2JZ
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) May 1, 2017

Trump will surely tweet something about how his words were taken out of context, but the quotes speak for themselves.

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