Sympathy for the devils

It was a seemingly scattershot 24 hours in President Trump’s world, with a unifying theme: Extending kindness to leaders who have killed their people by the thousands and denied human rights by the millions. Exhibit A: Saturday, Trump — without first informing his State Department or National Security Council — had a call that the administration called “very friendly” with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, and invited him to the White House.

Duterte’s regime has, according to independent observers, overseen the killing of some 7,000 drug suspects. Duterte has boasted of personally “looking for trouble” and killing people accused of narcotics crimes, and has encouraged the assassination of “corrupt” journalists.

In September, he said: “Hitler massacred 3 million Jews. Now there is 3 million, what is it, 3 million drug addicts (in the Philippines), there are. I’d be happy to slaughter them.”

Exhibit B: Sunday, Trump praised North Korea’s Kim Jong Un as “a smart cookie” for having taken over his government — a totalitarian regime in which his father and grandfather were both all-powerful dictators — and Monday added that he would be “honored” to meet with Kim “under the right circumstances.”

Trying to explain his boss’ nice words for a man who terrorizes and starves his people and threatens other nations with nuclear annihilation, White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday said Kim was a “young person” who had “obviously managed to lead a country forward.”

Exhibit C: Closer to home, Trump, in an interview aired Monday on SiriusXM Radio, said if only President Andrew Jackson had been “a little later,” he might have stopped the Civil War.

“He was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the Civil War, he said, ‘There’s no reason for this,’” said the historianin-chief of Old Hickory.

“People don’t realize, you know, the Civil War, if you think about it, why? People don’t ask that question, but why was there the Civil War?”

Jackson was not only responsible for killing thousands upon thousands of Native Americans, women and children included. He was a slaver who went to great lengths to protect the inhumane institution.

Which is not to call him irredeemable; he had positive traits and real accomplishments. Only to say that Trump is unnaturally seduced by the seventh President’s supposed strength.

To answer Trump’s plaintive “why?” about the Civil War: Because men like Jackson insisted upon keeping people in chains. It’s really that simple.