by Timothy Meads, Townhall:

In Cinncinatti, President Donald J. Trump rankled the mainstream media yet again this weekend with seemingly complimentary comments regarding Confederate General Robert E. Lee as a “great” military leader. Yet, a full tale of the tape reveals that the commander-in-chief only made such comments as a preface to heralding Union General and United States President Ulysses S. Grant as a truly exceptional leader who was finally able to help President Abraham Lincoln defeat the South.

First, NBC News tweeted an edited clip without context that made it appear as if President Donald J. Trump were discussing only Robert E. Lee.

In the 52 second video, the president says the following:

“It also gave you a general – who was incredible. He drank a little bit too much. You know who I’m talking about. So, Robert E. Lee was a great general. And, Abraham Lincoln developed a phobia. He couldn’t beat Robert E. Lee! He was going crazy, I don’t know if you know this story, but Robert E. Lee was winning battle after battle after battle. And Abraham Lincoln came home and said, ‘I can’t beat Robert E. Lee’ and he had all of these generals. They looked great. They were the top of their class at West Point, they were the greatest people. There’s only one problem – they didn’t know how the hell to win, they didn’t know how to fight, they didn’t know how.”

WATCH: President Trump says "Robert E. Lee was a great general" during Ohio rally, calling the Confederate leader "incredible." pic.twitter.com/4p6huezCD4

— NBC News (@NBCNews) 13 October 2018

And then the clip ends. Whoever was working the NBC News’ Friday evening newsdesk shift thought it newsworthy to tweet out that quote. Did the NBC News weekend editor think the point of the President’s remarks were to praise Robert E. Lee? Or was he purposefully trying to take President Trump out of context? Well, in order to decipher his or her reasoning, one must read President Trump’s comments in this part of his rally in full.

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