In November, 1863, the New York Herald reported that a temperance committee had asked President Lincoln to dismiss Ulysses S. Grant. They told him the general was an imbiber of strong spirits, to which Lincoln replied: “I wish you would tell me the brand of Whiskey Grant drinks. I would like to send a barrel to my other generals.” This story is probably apocryphal, but it captures the contempt with which the socially awkward Grant was viewed by the eastern establishment. This came to mind when I read the following about President Trump by a little old lady named George Will:
By his comportment, the president benefits his media detractors with serial vindications of their disparagements.… For most Americans, President Trump’s expostulations are audible wallpaper, always there but not really noticed.… And as balm for his base, which remains oblivious to his likely contempt for them as sheep who can be effortlessly gulled by preposterous fictions.Will contends that Trump’s “deportment” is what drives the abuse and lies to which the President is subjected by the frauds of the Fourth Estate. Likewise, Grant’s exaggerated drinking was an excuse the northern press employed to denounce his tactics during the Civil War...
Fortunately, Lincoln wasn’t stupid enough to listen to newspaper publishers or the temperance committees. He needed a “fighting general” to replace strangely inert commanders like George B. McClellan and Henry Halleck. By the time Lincoln lost patience with these dawdlers, Grant had won important victories at Forts Henry and Donelson. Soon he would also capture the crucial town of Vicksburg. Halleck was so jealous of Grant that he launched a campaign to undermine Grant’s credibility in Washington (sound familiar?). But Lincoln wanted battlefield victories rather than Washington gossip.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
