Recently, the media has been slyly trying to portray Donald Trump’s recent visit to Andrew Jackson’s Tennessee home as proof of his sympathy for “white supremacy.” Some outlets, like the Washington Post, were more subtle [Trump cites Andrew Jackson as his hero—and a reflection of himself, by Jenna Johnson, Karen Tumulty, The Washington Post, March 15, 2017]. While others, like Jamelle Bouie in Slate, were quite blunt. In fact, Bouie insisted that Jacksonian Democracy “was a racial democracy built on a foundation of ethnic cleansing, committed to race hierarchy and enslavement.” Blah, blah, blah. [Donald Trump Sees Himself in Andrew Jackson: The president deserves the Jackson legacy, but not for the reasons he’d like, by Jamelle Bouie, March 15, 2017].

However, President Bill Clinton openly praised Andrew Jackson as “a man I admire very much” in a March, 1993 interview with Dan Rather. Clinton even had the famous portrait of Andrew Jackson that graces the $20 bill hanging in the Oval Office during his presidency.

Rather: “Mr. President, you mentioned that you particularly like Andrew Jackson. Why?”

Clinton: “I like him for a lot of reasons. He was tough and decisive. And he came to this job to change things. And he really represented the kind of people that elected me. He was really a president of the people . . . But Jackson was a guy who was full of life and action and he stood for things. And he really was tied to the ordinary people of this country. And I identify with that.”

One could certainly argue that that Donald Trump’s identification with Andrew Jackson is more authentic than that of a globalist like Bill Clinton. Nevertheless, why was it OK for Bill Clinton to identify with Andrew Jackson, but not Donald Trump?

Well, we all know, don’t we?