A relative of Robert E. Lee delivers a clear-eyed rebuke of Donald Trump's praise

Sometimes words deliver a punch to the gut. Not the kind of impact that knocks you down, but the kind that lifts you up.

Early Saturday morning, a descendant of the Confederate Civil War General Robert E. Lee, Reverend Robert Lee IV, posted a video message on Twitter taking exception to President Donald Trump's Friday evening statements praising Lee. 

"Last night I was disheartened to hear Donald Trump, our president, make comments about Robert E. Lee as a great general, as an honorable man," Lee said. "These were far from the truth."

Trump was speaking at a rally in Cincinnati, and he peppered looking-glass Civil War history amongst calls for black Americans to "honor" Republicans with their votes. He called Gen. Lee "a true great fighter" and a "great general," and claimed President Lincoln developed a "phobia" of Lee. 

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Lee's descendent, who is a reverend, took the opportunity to set the record straight about his ancestor.

"Yet again our president is lying and showing us his true colors," Lee said. "He is showing us that he supports an idol of white supremacy and of hatred. Robert E. Lee fought for the continued enslavement of black bodies. It was for states' rights, yes, but it was for states' rights to own slaves."

Confederate figures have played a strangely prominent role in recent American politics and controversy. Calls to remove statues honoring confederate figures inspired the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. And President Trump has largely supported maintaining Confederate Monuments, and praised Confederate figures himself.

Trump's Friday remarks praising Lee for confounding then-president Abraham Lincoln were part of a build-up to him saying nice things about Ulysses S. Grant, the Ohioan and future U.S. president who eventually accepted Lee's surrender at the end of the Civil War. But Reverend Lee's message is a powerful admonishment, coming from a southerner and a descendent of the general himself. 

Lee also reflected on how Trump's words fit into the larger state of American politics and culture. And ended his message with a hopeful entreaty to vote and redefine American values. Read, listen, and be inspired:

Amen, reverend. 

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