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John Kelly spread an ahistorical view of the Civil War on Fox, and Ta-Nehisi Coates responded

John Kelly believes "Robert E. Lee was an honorable man" so Ta-Nehisi decided to point out the facts.

Colin Daileda

on October 31, 2017

John Kelly spread an ahistorical view of the Civil War on Fox, and Ta-Nehisi Coates responded

Ta-Nehisi Coates appears on "Meet the Press" in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 1. Credit: William B. Plowman/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly went on Fox ("news") News last night and announced his support for Confederate monuments, even saying, “I would tell you that Robert E. Lee was an honorable man.”

After his praise of the Confederate general, who is known for having tortured slaves, Kelly went on to profess his belief that "the lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War."

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There are a number of willful misinterpretations buried within that statement, so author and national correspondent for The Atlantic Ta-Nehisi Coates broke down the facts on his Twitter feed in response.

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Notion that Civil War resulted from a lack of compromise is belied by all the compromises made on enslavement from America's founding.
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

I mean, like, it's called The three fifths compromise for a reason. But it doesn't stand alone. Missouri Compromise. Kansas-Nebraska Act.
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

Lincoln's own platform was a compromise. Lincoln was not an abolitionist. He proposed to limit slavery's expansion, not end it.
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

During the Civil War, Lincoln repeatedly sought to compromise by paying reparations--to slaveholders--and shipping blacks out the country.
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

Explicit compromises don't even get at it. Historian James McPherson points to implicit compromises with slavery.https://t.co/Mx7nXP4isn pic.twitter.com/wCDkNYOIea
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

Spirit of "compromise" continued--Lincoln asked only 10 percent of voters in rebel states to sign loyalty oath for readmission to Union.
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

"Compromise" continued long after Lincoln's death. Compromise of 1877 led to explicit White Supremacist rule in the South for a century.
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

As historian David Blight pointed out "compromise" with white supremacy was how the country achieved reunion.
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

This is really basic stuff--easily accessible, not tucked away in archives somewhere.
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

Shocking that someone charged with defending their country, in some profound way, does not comprehend the country they claim to defend.
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

Notion that we are putting today's standards on the past is, in itself, racist--implies only white, slave-holding, opinions matter.
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

Majority of people living in South Carolina in 1860 were black--they did not need modern white wokeness to tell them slavery was wrong.
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

Majority of people living in Mississippi in 1860 were black. They knew, in their own time, that enslavement was wrong.
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

Half the people living in states like Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama enslaved--knew full well that enslavement was dead wrong.
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

Again, this is not info hidden away in the state archives. Like, it's in the census. You can google it.
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

Praising Bobby Lee as an honorable man is just sad. Like some kid insisting his deadbeat dad is actually a secret agent away on a mission.
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

As @AdamSerwer points out Lee wasn't some agnostic pressed into War. He was a dude who thought torture was cool.https://t.co/Mx7nXP4isn pic.twitter.com/z7Ggh8afkK
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

Lee didn't prosecute the war with no regard for White supremacy, his army that kidnapped free blacks and sold them into slavery. pic.twitter.com/avoCZoRZRr
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

Again. This is knowable. Not hard to find out about Lee. You do not have to sit in a Harvard history colloquium to understand the Civil War.
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

But you do have to actually read what the people who started the War actually said. https://t.co/BBEg7k6Mfe pic.twitter.com/viIRu9tnQ8
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

You do have to get these guys were the worst of America.
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

They did not merely want to preserve the right to own people, they wanted to expand that right.https://t.co/cFVYE5a3dC pic.twitter.com/JbuQyo6xDr
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

Been a lot of hemming and hawing over the term "white supremacist." Fools who won't be satisfied until Trump literally lynches someone.
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

But, like, when the "adult in the room" believes a war for slavery was honorable...
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

Believes that the torturer of humans, vendor of people, who led that war was honorable...
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

When that dude portrays a sitting member of Congress as some shucking and jiving hustler...
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

When he sticks by that portrayal of a black women, in the face of clear video evidence, when he has so descended into the dream...
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

You really do see the effect of white supremacy.
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

Black people who are as nutty as Kelly and Trump are generally marginalized. Kelly and Trump ended up in the White House.
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

People out here asking me for "hope." Meanwhile, the adult in the room thinks the Easter Bunny caused the Civil War...
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) October 31, 2017

What else is there to say, really.

Colin Daileda

Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.