Screengrab from https://youtu.be/5pxPIwqv8AA

President Trump’s rallies are a cornucopia for reporters trolling for unscripted moments to turn into scandals. And, as last night proved, when President Trump doesn’t say anything outrageous, the media, acting, it seems, with one mind (though that would be of a half-wit) is willing to deliberately misrepresent what was said. Last night President Trump was at a rally in Ohio. He went on a short ramble through American history–which was mostly defensible–but he also touched on the Civil War:

Politico: Trump praises Robert E. Lee during Ohio rally.
CNN: Trump: ‘Robert E. Lee was a great general’.
The Hill: Trump: ‘Robert E. Lee was a great general’.

Of course, Twitter lit up with outrage.

https://twitter.com/EdKrassen/status/1051064107292602368

Trump sold his Confederate nonsense tonight in Ohio at a rally saying, "Robert E. Lee was a great general" and he called him "incredible."

Ohio was in the Union and these fools just ate it up, so it seems to be a pretty versatile shtick for his racist base. pic.twitter.com/WlweOnGxLX

— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) October 13, 2018

This guy is so f***ing stupid that his hair probably hurts:

https://twitter.com/imillhiser/status/1051066545290600448

Robert E. Lee was not a great general, President Trump.

He waged a war to hold onto the legal institution of white supremacy. https://t.co/TZvUood3kg

— Southern Poverty Law Center (@splcenter) October 13, 2018

This is the video clip tweeted by NBC:

WATCH: President Trump says "Robert E. Lee was a great general" during Ohio rally, calling the Confederate leader "incredible." pic.twitter.com/HhsLI1Mk05

— NBC News (@NBCNews) October 13, 2018

It also gave you a general who was incredible. He drank a little bit too much. You know who I’m talking about, right? So Robert E. Lee was a great general. And Abraham Lincoln developed a phobia. He couldn’t beat Robert E. Lee. He was going crazy. I don’t know if you know this story. But Robert E. Lee was winning battle after battle after battle. And Abraham Lincoln came home and said, “I can’t beat Robert E. Lee.” And he had all of his generals, they looked great, they were the top of their class at West Point, they were the greatest people. There was only one problem, they didn’t know how the hell to win.

But when you look at the actual speech, you can see that NBC “selectively edited” the video to cut the punchline and change the entire focus of the story. Here is the speech. I’ve transcribed all but the last 0:10 and you can see that this is an homage to Lincoln and to Grant, the guys who won the Civil War. I’ve bolded the NBC segment so you can see what was cut.

Ohio is the state that gave us a great president who hasn’t been properly recognized. William McKinley. He has not been properly recognized. What he did in terms of trade, in terms of war, but in terms of trade, and I hate to say it, in terms of being smart in tariffs, William McKinley has not been properly recognized. But maybe someday he will.

It also gave you a general who was incredible. He drank a little bit too much. You know who I’m talking about, right? So Robert E. Lee was a great general. And Abraham Lincoln developed a phobia. He couldn’t beat Robert E. Lee. He was going crazy. I don’t know if you know this story. But Robert E. Lee was winning battle after battle after battle. And Abraham Lincoln came home and said, “I can’t beat Robert E. Lee.” And he had all of his generals, they looked great, they were the top of their class at West Point, they were the greatest people. There was only one problem, they didn’t know how the hell to win. They didn’t know how to fight. They didn’t know how. And one day, it was looking really bad. And Lincoln just said, “You,” hardly knew his name. And they said, “Don’t take him. He’s got a drinking problem.” And Lincoln said, “I don’t care what problem he has, you guys aren’t winning.” And his name was Grant. General Grant. And he went in and he knocked the hell out of everyone. And you know the story. The said to Lincoln, “You can’t use him anymore, he’s an alcoholic.” And Lincoln said, “I don’t care if he’s an alcoholic, frankly, give me six or seven more just like him.”

What is going on here is not accidental. For instance, this is USA Today’s article headline: Trump gives Civil War history at Ohio rally, describing Lee, Grant as ‘great’ generals. But this is their tweet:

Of Abraham Lincoln: "He couldn't beat Robert E. Lee" https://t.co/xOlPsiCHAr

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) October 13, 2018

What you are seeing here is grotesque dishonesty. Trump clearly is analogizing himself with Grant. He’s only referring to Lee as “great” because you can’t be great unless you’ve beaten great opponents. The media is still trying to tie Trump and the GOP to Charlottesville and is working its GOP-is-racist narrative overtime because Jim Brown and Kanye West blew some truck-sized holes in that when they visited the White House this week.

This is the kind of bullsh** that has changed me from being 100% opposed to Trump, to grudgingly accepting of Trump, to saying that I’ll vote for him in 2020 if he chooses to run and do so cheerfully and without reservation.