Presidential Historian for NBC News Michael Beschloss Appears Over Chyron Reading ‘Trump Praises Robert E. Lee During Ohio Rally’

On Friday, NBC News reported, and tweeted, that President Donald Trump praised Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee as “incredible”. But on Sunday, NBC had to correct that tweet since, as it turns out, Trump was actually praising Union General (and future U.S. President) Ulysses S. Grant in the clip.

“An earlier tweet misidentified the general President Trump described as ‘incredible’ at a rally in Ohio,” they tweeted. “It was Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, not Gen. Robert E. Lee.”

That’s a pretty big difference.

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

That was the tweet on Friday. The correction came as a reply to that tweet on Sunday.

CORRECTION: An earlier tweet misidentified the general President Trump described as “incredible” at a rally in Ohio. It was Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, not Gen. Robert E. Lee. An attached video clip lacked the full context for Trump’s remark. Here is the full clip. pic.twitter.com/NZHj3Q2dHL — NBC News (@NBCNews) October 14, 2018

The story, which rocketed across the web, claimed that Trump was saying Robert E. Lee was the “great general” who “drank too much” but was “incredible’. In reality, as one can tell by watching the full clip, those remarks were directed to General Grant.

Trump said the state of Ohio gave the country a “general who was incredible. “He drank a little bit too much,” said Trump. “You know who I’m talking about right?”

Trump then said “So Robert E. Lee was a great general, and Abraham Lincoln developed a phobia, he couldn’t beat Robert E. Lee.” He described Lincoln fretting that Lee was winning so many battles, and that they couldn’t find a way to beat him. He said that Lincoln turned to Grant, who was born in Ohio, to defeat Lee.

“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.” Trump continued with his praise of Grant, and repeated again that both Lee and Grant were great generals, and said to the Ohio audience of Grant “he came from right here.

Robert E. Lee was born in Virginia.

NBC News rested their correction on the notion that they only misattributed a single word: incredible. In reality, though, they were characterizing a lengthy story designed to heap praise on locally-born Union General Grant as being a story focused on praising not locally-born Confederate General Lee, and that is simply not the case. In fact, the only word of praise that Trump offered for Lee was “great general”, an obvious and historically accurate reference to his skill on the battlefield.

This is from The History Channel:

Lee and his army achieved great success during the Peninsula Campaign and at Second Bull Run (Mansassas) and Fredericksburg, with his greatest victory coming in the bloody Battle of Chancellorsville. In the spring of 1863, Lee invaded the North, only to be defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg. With Confederate defeat a near certainty, Lee continued on, battling Union General Ulysses S. Grant in a series of clashes in Virginia in 1864-65 before finally surrendering what was left of his army in April 1865. Lee has been praised by many for his tactical brilliance, and remains a revered figure in the American South.

All of which was abundantly clear in context, but was nevertheless incorrectly characterized by NBC as an aside about Lee. It wasn’t just the word “incredible”, the premise of their report was that he was praising Lee, not Grant.

On Sunday, the President tweeted as much.

NBC News has totally and purposely changed the point and meaning of my story about General Robert E Lee and General Ulysses Grant. Was actually a shoutout to warrior Grant and the great state in which he was born. As usual, dishonest reporting. Even mainstream media embarrassed! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2018

Nevertheless, the story that Trump took time at his rally to “praise” Robert E. Lee was a constant theme on MSNBC all weekend, up to and including this morning.

Still, Trump thanked them for the correction on Twitter.

Thank you to NBC for the correction! https://t.co/L2mX3vREOl — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2018

Watch the clip above, via NBC News.

[Featured image via screengrab]

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Follow Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) on Twitter

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