Trail of Tears

A few years ago Linda and I stopped for the night in Fort Payne, Alabama.  Fort Payne is the birthplace of the group “Alabama,” and the town park  features a stature of the musicians.  Fort Payne was also a center for the Cherokee Indian nation, and it has erected a sign to commemorate the “Trail of Tears,” when the Cherokee nation was forcibly marched to Oklahoma.  The march was brutal, and approximately one quarter of the population died.  Many of the victims were older Cherokees or small children.  

The Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Marshall said that the Cherokees could not be moved.  President Andrew Jackson is reported to have said, “John Marshall made his decision, now let him enforce it.”

I understand that our President is a great admirer of Jackson.  Evidently he thinks Jackson, a slave holder, could have prevented the Civil War, and may have even been alive when the Civil War was fought.

Does Trump’s lack of knowledge matter?  

Of course it matters.  If he doesn’t know about the origins of the Cold War, or our history of colonialism in Cuba, or how fascism arose in Europe, or how we blundered into the Vietnam War, or why Iranians hated the Shah, or the history of Jim Crow in voter suppression, or how Reagan’s tax cuts ran up the deficit, he will make mistakes that could have easily been avoided by any person with a rudimentary knowledge of history.

Our president’s ignorance is mind-boggling.  Why people like Sen. Toomey or Rep. Paul Ryan or Sen. Mitch McConnell, who must know better, are enabling this clown, is beyond my comprehension.