Robert E. Lee led an army trying to secede from the U.S. so that the institution of slavery could continue. But in 2019, Trump not only claimed Lee was a "great general" but that many of the generals Trump spoke with at the White House "think that maybe he was their favorite general."

Trump's praise of Lee came as Trump once again defended neo-Nazis and white supremacists who rioted in Charlottesville, murdering one woman, as "very fine people."