By Donald Trump's stand-off over the $5 billion for his prized border wall is into its third week now, and there's no end in sight. He's taking the fight to people who say that his conception of how to stop illegal immigration to America is outdated, though, and he's bringing his big bag of historical inaccuracies with him.
"They say a wall is medieval. Well, a wheel is older than a wall," Trump said in a briefing at the Texas border yesterday. "And I looked, and every single car out there, even the really expensive ones that the Secret Service uses, and believe me they are expensive, I said, 'Do they all have wheels?' 'Yes.' 'Oh. I thought it was medieval.'"
Absolute gibberish. For the record: walls predate the invention of the wheel by several millennia, as archaeologist Sarah Parcak pointed out.
Donald Trump's grasp of history has never been particularly firm though. Here are six times he's got it particularly wrong.
No, Canada didn't burn down the White House
When Canadian PM Justin Trudeau asked quite how America could justify new trade tariffs as a national security measure, Trump reportedly replied: "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?" He was apparently referring to the moment in the War of 1812 in which British forces burned down the White House. Canada wouldn't exist for another 55 years.
No, America didn't save France single-handedly
As good as that bit on Omaha beach where a bloke wanders around holding his own recently-lopped-off arm is, Saving Private Ryan has a lot to answer for. France was liberated by allied forces including America in 1944, true, but the Normandy landings and push through France was made by British, Canadian, Australian, Czech, Norwegian, Polish and French troops too. Plus, the Eastern Front across Russia was being fought at at the same. Trump's take is extremely cheese-eating-surrender-monkeys.
No, the Soviet Union didn't invade Afghanistan over terrorism
In a cabinet meeting on 2 January this year, Trump suggested that "the reason Russia was in Afghanistan was because terrorists were going into Russia. They were right to be there." Quite apart from the fact that America has always been of the opinion that the Soviet invasion wasn't really on, on the grounds that wading into Afghanistan isn't quite as funny when other people do it, the reason Russia went to war had nothing to do with terrorism. There has never been a terrorist attack launched from Afghanistan against Russia.
In brief: after a coup in 1978, Afghanistan's communist party got their guy, Nur Mohammad Taraki, into office as president. Unfortunately, Taraki's regime took pointers from Stalin's reign as Soviet leader, suppressing dissent, killing political prisoners and massacring civilians. Armed uprisings inevitably followed, Taraki was murdered by order of Hafizullah Amin, his rival and his successor as president. The Soviet Union worried Amin was too friendly to the West, so they stepped in, staged a coup, killed Amin and put Soviet loyalist Babrak Karmal in charge. Guerrilla fighting ensued, and went on for a decade. So, nowt to do with terrorists.
No, Frederick Douglass is not still alive
"Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is getting recognised more and more, I notice," Trump said in February 2017, either mangling his tenses or not realising that the abolitionist and suffrage campaigner had been dead for 122 years. "I think it was obvious to anyone that heard [Trump's] comments or read his comments that he was not up to speed on who Frederick Douglass was," said Kenneth B. Morris Jr, Douglass’s great-great-great grandson.
No, Andrew Jackson was not angry about the American Civil War
Back in May 2017 Trump suggested President Andrew Jackson - whose portrait now hangs in the Oval Office - was absolutely furious about the Civil War breaking out and would've stopped it happening, despite the fact he died 16 years before it started.
"I mean, had Andrew Jackson been a little bit later you wouldn’t have had the Civil War. He was a very tough person, but he had a big heart," Trump said in a Sirius XM interview. "He was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the Civil War, he said, 'There's no reason for this.'"
Unfortunately Jackson's big heart didn't extend to the hundreds of slaves he owned - which presumably would have made him a pro-war southerner - or the Native Americans he forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands. That said, Trump may have used his security clearance to access medical records indicating that Jackson had cardiomegaly, a swelling of the heart muscle which can lead to heart failure.
Trump may also have been referring to a Great Dane called Andrew Jackson, the noted enormous dog/small horse breed which can also struggle with the enormous heart problems which come from having an enormous heart. Still, Trump wasn't about to back down.
No, the Civil War could not have just been 'worked out'
In almost the same breath, Trump went on to question why the Civil War happened at all: "People don't ask that question, but why was there the Civil War? Why could that one not have been worked out?" Two questions there, and two answers: slavery; and slavery.
