Trump, on the Civil War, in His Own Words

This is the third in an occasional series about Donald Trump’s statements and language and what’s at stake in the election.

Something is clearly happening with Donald Trump. Even a year ago I don’t think he would have begun a rally with 12 minutes of rambling remarks about the late golfer Arnold Palmer, concluding with a discussion of the size of Mr. Palmer’s penis.

And while you may wish you hadn’t heard about this, it matters. Trump may once again control America’s nuclear arsenal, and aside from that, his erratic behavior should be a warning to businesspeople who downplay his destructive economic agenda believing that if elected he will listen to reason and back off the worst of his proposals.

But in a fundamental sense, Trump’s most disturbing remark over the past few days may have been his unprompted comment about Abraham Lincoln during an appearance on Fox News: “Lincoln was probably a great president. Although I’ve always said, why wasn’t that settled, you know? I’m a guy that — it doesn’t make sense we had a civil war.”

What in the world is he talking about here? Is he implying that Lincoln should have let the South maintain slavery in some form, keeping some number of Black people enslaved, just deal points in some sort of run-of-the-mill public policy negotiation? If so, once upon a time Trump would have had enough self-control not to suggest anything like that so openly.

And if he is, here’s the thing: The Civil War couldn’t have been “settled” by moderating Northern demands that the South give up its slaves, because there was no such demand.