Trump believes in the “great man” theory of history. Specifically, he believes that a great man, a man like President Andrew Jackson, could have stopped the American Civil War.
.. “Had Andrew Jackson been a little later you wouldn’t have had the Civil War. He was a very tough person, but he had a big heart, and he was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the Civil War. He said, ‘There’s no reason for this.’ ”
Setting aside the fact that Jackson died on June 8, 1845, 16 years before the first shells were fired on Fort Sumter
.. Mr. Trump once boasted that he could have done a deal to avert the Civil War.
.. the Civil War was almost inevitable even before Jackson’s presidency.