Trump says Civil War could have been negotiated

Former President Trump said he believes the Civil War could have been avoided through negotiations, but that it would have changed Lincoln's legacy.

President Trump said at a rally in Iowa on Saturday that he finds the conflict “fascinating” but “very scary.” He also noted the high number of deaths.

“There were so many mistakes made. To be honest, I think there were things that could have been negotiated. I think you could have negotiated that. The whole population died, so many people died. ” he said.

It is estimated that 620,000 soldiers died between 1861 and 1865.

He added that Mr. Lincoln could have negotiated to avoid the war, but he would not have been as famous as he is today.

“Abraham Lincoln, of course if he were to negotiate, we probably wouldn't even know who Abraham Lincoln was,” Trump said. “He could have been president, but he wouldn't have been president, he wouldn't have been Abraham Lincoln. I wish it had been different, but I'm glad it was.”

“I know that very well. I know the whole process that they went through, but they just couldn't get along, and it's something that could be negotiated, and they didn't have any issues like that.” “I wouldn't have had that,” he continued.

The former president and 2024 Republican front-runner's comments come after fellow Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley faced backlash last month over her response to a question from voters about the causes of the Civil War. .

In response to questions, Haley said the war was fought over the role of government and “how government is run, freedom, what people can and cannot do,” without mentioning slavery. She later said that she “took for granted” that the war was about slavery.

Trump has received some criticism in the days since his comments about the war.Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis I told ABC I didn't understand. What Trump was trying to say.

“I don't even know what he's saying. Lincoln did what he had to do. He ultimately led the way in abolishing slavery and saved the Union,” DeSantis said.

Former Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) wondered what happened to the war This could have been avoided by posting to X, formerly known as Twitter.

“What part of the Civil War was 'negotiable'? The slavery part? The detachment part? Should Lincoln have preserved the Union? I have a question for the members of the Republican Party of Lincoln who support Donald Trump. How can you defend this?'' she said.

The status of slavery was subject to extensive negotiations over many years before the Southern states finally seceded and the Civil War broke out. Several bills were passed by Congress in the prewar years in an effort to find a compromise that would satisfy both North and South.

However, after Lincoln was elected Republican in 1860, the Republican Party was formed around the platform of preventing the expansion of slavery into new states and territories, and states began to secede. Seven Southern states seceded from the Union after Lincoln's election but before he took office.

The war officially began about a month after Lincoln took the oath of office.