A week later and USA Today is still being roundly mocked for a ridiculous — and false — “fact check” claiming that Democrats didn’t start the Civil War and found the Ku Klux Klan. We here at NewsBusters fact checked the fact check, showcasing just how unhistorical the idea really is. On Fox News, Monday night, Laura Ingraham asked historian Craig Shirley to weigh in.
Shirley quickly debunked:
Nathan Bedford Forrest was a Civil War general. The Library of Congress says he was a Democrat. He was the founder of the KKK. Democrat. The KKK was, for all intents and purposes, the shock troops, the terrorist arm of the Democratic Party in the post-Civil War area right up to the 1920s, right up to the 1950s, even into the ‘60s.
They were the ANTIFA of their era. The Democratic Party started the Civil War because the Republican, Abraham Lincoln, was elected in 1860. And 1861, Fort Sumter was fired on by Southern Democrats. The fort held by Union troops. And that was what kicked off the Civil War, it was the attack by Southern Democrats on northern troops in Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor in South Carolina.
In my July 1 fact check, I pointed out that 19th century writer Robert G. Ingersoll famously said this of the Democratic Party in 1876:
Every man that loved slavery better than liberty was a Democrat. The man that assassinated Abraham Lincoln was a Democrat. Every man that sympathized with the assassin -- every man glad that the noblest President ever elected was assassinated, was a Democrat. Every man that wanted the privilege of whipping another man to make him work for him for nothing and pay him with lashes on his naked back, was a Democrat. Every man that raised bloodhounds to pursue human beings was a Democrat.
The next day, Facebook censored NewsBusters on its social media site, declaring it inaccurate to say Democrats started the war and founded the Klan. Facebook eventually backed down and removed the censoring tag.
Regarding USA Today, Shirley said of liberals in and out of the media: “I read that piece, and I just shook my head. I'm thinking this is the perfect example of why the left is so dangerous because they will lie about anything to achieve power.”
A transcript of the exchange is below:
Ingraham Angle
7/6/202010:15 PM ET
LAURA INGRAHAM: Craig, I want to get your reaction to a quote unquote “fact check” from USA Today with this headline, “Democratic Party did not find the KKK,” did not start the Civil War. However, the article goes on to admit this. “Historians agree that although factions of the Democratic Party did majorly contribute to the Civil War start in the KKK founding, it's inaccurate to say the party is responsible for either.” Craig, I know you're champing at the bit to get at this one.
CRAIG SHIRLEY: Nathan Bedford Forrest was a Civil War general. The Library of Congress says he was a Democrat. He was the founder of the KKK. Democrat. The KKK was, for all intents and purposes, the shock troops, the terrorist arm of the Democratic Party in the post-Civil War area right up to the 1920s, right up to the 1950s, even into the ‘60s.
They were the ANTIFA of their era. The Democratic Party started the Civil War because the Republican, Abraham Lincoln, was elected in 1860. And 1861, Fort Sumter was fired on by Southern Democrats. The fort held by Union troops. And that was what kicked off the Civil War, it was the attack by Southern Democrats on northern troops in Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor in South Carolina.
INGRAHAM: Yes, the USA--
SHIRLEY: I read that piece, and I just shook my head. I'm thinking this is the perfect example of why the left is so dangerous because they will lie about anything to achieve power.
