I think we all know which side of The Civil War Donald Trump would have been on.  Individual rights do not seem to be his strong suit. His governing style is to press forward forcefully by majority rule, or even more often, by unilateral decree. Although he convinced so many hard-working Americans to vote for him, he has shown no indication that his presidency will help them. His presidency will help big business and billionaires.  Trumps’ lack of compassion for immigrants, refugees, and even animals, shows us his ease in putting the dollar ahead of right and wrong.

Always sympathetic to business and the bottom line, would he not sympathize with the slave owners and their need for “affordable” labor? His actions show that he would. His own clothing line and his daughters’ are made in China. Why? Because Trump does not value human rights and the standards of labor set by this country.  It was just reported that Ivanka Trumps’ clothing line is manufactured in a factory where Chines workers are paid the equivalent of $62 for a 60-hour workweek, below even China’s standards. According to CNN, who ordered and traced pieces from Donald Trumps’ fashion line, products were all manufactured outside of the United States in countries where he could pay very low wages. CNN discovered Trump shirts made in a Honduras factory where workers earned $1.30 per hour.  Even worse, Trump products were also found to be manufactured in Bangladesh, where the average worker earns 33 cents per hour.  Working conditions in Bangladesh are some of the worst in the world.

Trump justifies this use of cheap, often abusive, labor. You may be thinking- sure, this is bad, but they are getting paid- slavery is different. Ok. Trump has made a huge point of comparing himself to and praising President Andrew Jackson. In fact, he just said that Jackson, had he been President at the time, would have successfully avoided the Civil War.  I don’t doubt it.  Jackson was a slave owner. Some have portrayed him as a benevolent slave owner, but the facts indicate that he was a slave owner, a slave driver, and a vicious one.  On one occasion, he supplemented a reward for his runaway slave with a bonus for anyone who also gave him 100 lashes.  He spoke violently against abolitionists, vowing to protect the Southern way of life much as Trump vows to protect their guns.

The South overwhelmingly supports Trump- some of his loudest and most visible supporters are Confederate flag wavers/wearers, and white supremacists. Trump idolizes Andrew Jackson. Trump avoids health, safety, and wage laws to protect workers by going where they are not protected. Trump justifies it all. Trump would justify the allowance of slavery to preserve the union, if not for it’s own sake. Trump has said “Everything is negotiable.” Does anyone believe that Trump would have refused to negotiate the issue of slavery? How many Trump supporters still do not disavow slavery? Why are Confederate memorials honoring those who fought to keep slavery and white supremacy still standing, an issue passionately defended by many in the South? Why are they proud of the Confederate flag? They are not ashamed of their past- Germany is ashamed of the Nazi flag, Trump supporters are nostalgic for theirs. These are the people who elected Trump. Trump would have saved the U.S. from the Civil War. Think about that, and what the world would look like today had he been President then.  Now think about what the world is going to look like in the future, because he is President now.