. >> in 1873 ulysses s. grantwing rated and it was cold, the champagne turned into slushies and these can ara were brought in and they froze to death. >> andrew jackson bash was the rowdiest, 20,000 swrak son supporters stormed the white house. pulling done the curtains, walking on the furniture causing massive damage. >> the new president reportedly escaped the crush through a window. >> god 2k578 people think trurp caused chaos, imagine if his presidency started with a riot. but hey man, say what you want about andrew jackson, that dude could throw a party. you know a party is hard-core when the host is like if i don't get out of here, i'm going to die. it's funny because we think of all these historical figures, so proper and respectable, but damn those parties were wall baller. have i been so some crazy parties but never to a party that got frozen can are crazy, although i think frozen carn aries on the floor can really kill the mood at any part whens is up, girlk i couldn't help but notice you stand here by y

part of one of the reasons why andrew johnson and ulysses s. grant not really speak when grant was being inaugurated. he was the last president to skip his successor's inauguration, by the way. speaking of that clip, let's listen to the clip from the inauguration where president biden actually mentions white supremacy out loud. >> a rise of political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront, and we will defeat. >> i have to wonder on the back of that who he's talking to. i mean, people who look like you and me know we need to defeat white supremacy. i feel like he was saying it, like i said, for the people in the back, our black and brown sisters listening to people saying, i have warned you this would burn the country down if you didn't do something about it, now it's attacked the capitol. do you think the people who most need to hear and act on that were listening and will act? >> well, i think time will tell. one thing is to see what happens with the biden department of justice. and see what merrick garland does. it's s

after the civil war, president ulysses s. grant named him to be america's secretary of war. and then, stuff started to go wrong. on the relatively meager salary that came with that cabinet position, william worth belknap, civil war hero, distinguished soldier, secretary of war, started throwing really, really lavish parties in washington. and that was true with his first wife. it was also true with his second wife. he was just very obviously living this ostentatious, high society life of conspicuous consumption in washington that nobody knew he should be able to afford. nobody knew where the money was coming from, until they figured it out. because it turned out, where he was getting all the money from is that he was taking bribes. he was taking tens of thousands of dollars in bribes as secretary of war. people who wanted jobs related to the u.s. military of the 1870s, apparently one of the ways you could get one of those jobs was to grease the palm of war secretary william belknap. and he got caught for it. and as a cabinet secretary, he was subject to impeachment by the co

this last happened in 1869 when president andrew johnson stayed in the white house while ulysses s. granthe two men despised each other. they didn't see eye-to-eye over reconstruction of the defeated south after the civil war. by the time johnson was leaving office, he was a one-term president who was the first to ever be impeached in u.s. history. but it was john adams who set the precedent. he left washington the morning of thomas jeffson's his son,dent john quincy adams, left washington the bay before the 1829 swearing in of andrew jackson. still ahead, as covid more lives each d instantly clear every day congestion with vicks sinex saline nasal mist. for drug free relief that works fast. vicks sinex. instantly clear everyday congestion. yeah, i mean the thing is, people like geico because it's just easy. bundling for example. you've got car insurance here. and home insurance here. why not... schuuuuzp... put them together. save even more. some things are better together. like um... tea and crumpets. but you wouldn't bundle just anything. like, say... a porcupine in a balloon factory.

ulysses s. grant is mired.the democratic campaign is as ugly as it has ever been lincoln ends up doing work then he did here in 1860. there is efforts to get him to rescind the emancipation proclimation he wants to call a temporary although. in his most desperate moment, he writes this memorandum saying this morning it looks like we're going to lose. let's all pledge to support the next administration and try to save the union between the election and the inauguration. and hen he folds up this memorandum and makes his cabinet members sign it site unseen. one of the most peculiar lawyerly moments of his administration -- the lawyers in the audience can decide if it is valid. but the day of the democratic convention that adopts a peace flat form, and a pro peace not at all cost, but most costs military man george mcclellan, but that day george sherman takes georgia. but there is a momentum shift on election day. even though in the early days mcclellan had been viewed as the peacemaker. and lincoln no better than

guest: there is precedent for former officials being tried for impeachment, ulysses s grant had a secretary of war in the 1870's who was caught up in a scandal in the grant administration. even though he had resigned, he was still impeached and tried by the senate when he was no longer in office. all of the same procedures and safeguards and impeachment trial took place in the case of the former secretary of war was acquitted, so there was no issue and so there was no issue of whether he should be barred from ever again holding federal office. if trump has tried all of the usual safeguards of impeachment trial, this would be in place. and the only issue that might -- and we don't know the resolution of this would be who might preside over the trial. host: if chief justice job -- if the chief justice decides he does not want to be in charge, who does that fall to? guest: the senate would have to decide, and who is the president of the senate? kamala harris. i don't get would be appropriate for her to preside, but it would present a thorny legal and constitutional question. i certainly hope t

the piece goes on to name george washington, ulysses s. grantroosevelt, william mckinley as sexier, sorry, more masculine than donald trump. cnn has endorsed every ex-president that antifa has called a racist bigot. that's how committed they are to masculinity. they are more masculine it turns out than they are woke and that is saying something that we support that. this is all a bit weird by the way but it gets weirder. the piece concludes this way. trump's idea of is deeply flawed. to sum up, cnn is now defining, deigning to define what masculinity is, just so you know. in case you've got questions about your own manhood, go to cnn. they will tell you what it means to be a man. they are like dad to you. today of the third republican in the house of representatives, liz cheney of wyoming, said she would gladly vote to impeach the president and his final week in office. fox news is reporting mitch mcconnell things impeachable will help the republican party get rid of donald trump and the stain he is left on the party. this is not, whatever else

tom: ulysses s grant had the hallway of the willard hotel, which is why we get the phrase lobbyist, i believe. biden is less visible. how do you frame the task at the president hasn't had or government hasn't had, given our new social communication? wendy: well, obviously, communication -- the bully pulpit, so to speak, with teddy roosevelt using the bully pulpit, franklin delano roosevelt using the radio, donald trump using twitter -- joe biden as a good communicator, i think people trust him. he will have to win the trust of the people who voted for donald trump, of course, but that is more of an antigovernment, anti-election trust rather than a demonization of joe biden. he starts with a stronger advantage than a lot of other presidents, that basically he is a good guy kind of thing. we'll see how that develops over time. he is not the best or rater, so that she is not the best or rater. it does not lie on speech for the public, twitter, but he has got to get coronavirus under control and he's got to restore faith in the government. the vexing problem has not rolled out the weight

ulysses s grant is mired in a terrible campaign in virginia with enormous loss of life. the campaign against him even here in new york is totally racist in character. elect abraham lincoln and we will have a racially integrated society. the democratic campaign is as ugly as it has ever gotten in new york. in fact, lincoln ends up doing worst in 1864 than he did here in 1860. there are efforts to get him to rescind the emancipation proclamation in exchange for a truce that will lease call a temporary halt to the war before the election. and in his most desperate moments, the end of august, 1864, lincoln actually writes this memorandum saying, this morning, as in sunday's past, it looks like we are going to lose. let's all pledge to support the next administration and try to save the union between the election and the inauguration, which you know is four months in. then he folds up this memorandum and makes his cabinet members signed it sight unseen. one of the most peculiar and lawyer lee moments of his administration. the lawyers in the audience can decide later if it wa

the last president to do so was andrew johnson, who skipped ulysses s. grant's inauguration.dent has said that he's going to have his sort of own departure party at joint base andrews. there is talk of there possibly being a 21-gun salute, a color guard, a red carpet, all sorts of pomp and circumstance. one person that won't be there, even though there are a lot of people invited, including people who have criticized the president, vice president pence. nos office confirmed tonightthd g to h preissi gdeointo trump's party. that is a window into the last days here of the trump presidency, where pence has had to do things, like talk about the coronavirus and visit troops, while president trump has not taken questions or been seen in public in days. one other thing. president trump leaves office with his legacy really, really tarnished. in the last few days, he has not apologized or said anything about the capitol hill siege. there are people angry at the president leaving the office like this. judy: finally, to you, lisa, we know the senate tomorrow is going to change hands, as

republicans are defecting, his new union coalition is not working, the death toll is rising and ulysses s grantmired in a terrible campaign of virginia, with enormous loss of life. the campaign against him is even here in new york it is totally racist in character. elect abraham lincoln, and we will have a racially integrated society. democratic campaign is ugly as it has ever gotten in new york, and abraham lincoln ends up doing worse in 1864, than he did here in 1860. so there are efforts to get him to rescind the emancipation proclamation, in exchange for a truce that will at least call ace a temporary halt to the war before the election. in his most desperate moments, at the end of august 1864, lincoln actually writes this memorandum, saying this morning, it looks like we're going to lose. so let's all pledge, to support the next administration and try to save the union between the election and the inauguration. which as you may know, was for months. then he folds up this memorandum, and makes his cabinet members signed it, sight unseen. one of the most peculiar lawyer lee moments of his ad

the secretary of war, president ulysses s. grantwilliam belknap decided he'd get off the hook of an impeachment by resigning. both the house and senate rejected it and went forward with the impeachment. the position taken by rand paul and those yesterday that the president's out of office, leave him alone. let him ride off into the sunset doesn't square with the constitution and its wording nor in the precedent of the united states senate. >> the decision about whether to allow actual witnesses will depend on what the house managers want but also on what senate leadership wants or how you all want to conduct this trial. where are you right now on witnesses? >> we want a complete trial but i can tell you that, as you know, everyone knows, we have mountains of videotape. we have clear evidence in front of us as to what occurred that day. what the president said, what the crowd did and sadly, what those mobsters did to the policeman, capitol policemen, one of whom gave his life in service to our nation, and we know that evidence is ver

i mean, andrew johnson never came to the inaugural of ulysses s. grant's. we've had assassinations of presidents. there is no doubt 2020's been a brutal year in the united states, politically, but also, with covid-19. so, it's rough. we are going through a bad patch right now. but i wouldn't give up on american democracy, and i would bet that you will see this peaceful transfer of power with mike pence stepping in for donald trump. and joe biden and kamala harris being sworn in. you are going to have the secret service providing security for that event, which should be stronger than the capitol police. and -- but there's no question. this age of social media that we live in now is creating hate platforms in the u.s. and we're going to have to find a way to get that under control. and we see the start of it, with president trump being pulled from twitter and google and apple not carrying right-wing extreme apps. >> you know, we've heard from so many people. critics and supporters of the president. saying that, you know, he's destroyed his legacy with the eve

after the civil war, president ulysses s. grant named him to be america's secretary of war.nd then, stuff started to go wrong. on the relatively meager salary that came with that cabinet position, william worth belknap, civil war hero, distinguished soldier, secretary of war, started throwing really, really lavish parties in washington. and that was true with his first wife. it was also true with his second wife. he was just very obviously living this ostentatious, high society life of conspicuous consumption in washington that nobody knew he should be able to afford. nobody knew where the money was coming from, until they figured it

incumbent president, for the first time since 1860 nine, with andrew johnson, when he decided to skip ulysses s grantuguration, do we have an incumbent president not showing up to demonstrate to the world a peaceful transfer of power. biden is going to call for unity, but how does he make it happen? how does it actually happen given how tense the politics are in d.c.? >> good morning. if anyone is positioned to bring the party together, it is someone like joe biden who promised to bring back normal politics of washington and lower the collective partisan temperatures, but i'm doubtful that he can make any more than incremental progress in the current landscape. one poll showed only about a quarter of republicans think the 2020 election was legitimate. it's hard to make inroads when a sizable portion of the electorate does not think that the future occupant of the white house is deserving so even if biden does everything right, and he will not, he will make some mistakes and some issues are just by their very nature partisan, the only way polarization will lessen the is i think if there is an evolutio

we're going to hear a lot about this william belknap case, ulysses s. granthere they decided you can try a former official but then they went on to acquit him and most who voted for acquittal said the reason was they didn't think there was jurisdiction. we'll hear a lot about that. the other thing we'll hear is that, you know, what he said was sort of protected by free speech, and we'll become experts on this case, brandenberg versus ohio where the supreme court worked to distinguish protected free speech on the one hand, which might have bellicose language and on the other hand, speech that's actually intended, directed to produce some sort of imminent violence. and i think we're going to hear from the president's lawyers that that's not what he was doing. he was engaging in protected free speech and he didn't intend for the raid on the capitol to happen. >> yeah, intent a lot harder to prove. julian epstein, ross garber, i'm insure we'll have more questions for you in the coming days and weeks. >>> president biden is now looking to vaccinate 1.5 million ame

ulysses s grant was the head of the army in the civil war. and we are getting to the point. going.just keep sorry. >> there are some issues. this is awkward. >> there we go. the nation faced a major -- excuse me. that was different, too. after the contentious campaign of 1876 of his fellow republican beganford b hayes, grant a tour which is the subject of this. to -- withhe went his wife and son -- eventually he went to the middle east, russia, china, and japan. this was something he had long as they retired and he had the money to do it. tour wasrant on the his wife and their son jesse. he was married to an englishman. party wasmber of the long-term -- a longtime grant supporter who wrote a book entitled around the world with general -- general grants. with a high covered .egree what i discovered was for the he was referred to as the former president. newspapers -- , heddition to this called the friend of the carb -- common laborer. they tried to restore his reputation. grant returned to britain in september. a young native of ireland was set to accompany him. it was suppos

the last person to do so is andrew johnson who skipped ulysses s. grant's inauguration.nt is said to have his own party at base andrews, a color guard, 21 gun salute, pomp and circumstance. vice president pence confirmed he is going to the inauguration of president-elect biden and not going to president trump's party. that is some ways a window into the last days of the trump presidency where pepsi has had to talk about the coronavirus and visit troops while president trump has not taken questions or been seen in public in days. president trump leaves office with his legacy tarnished. in the last few days the president has not apologized or said anything about the capitol siege. others are angry about the president leaving the office like this. >> woodruff: and finally, to you, lisa, we know the senate, tomorrow, will change hands as we're reporting, the democrats will be in the majority. they've got a lot on their plate. one of the big items, of course, right away is impeament. what do we know about how that's going to work? >> reporter: well, there are many decisions t

president in history to do so the first since andrew johnson refused to attend the ceremonies of ulysses s. grant in 1869. as for other attendees, biden said he'd welcome the attendance of vice president mike pence a spokesperson for pence says he hasn't made a decision yet ongoing. former presidents barack obama, george bush and bill clinton are also planning to attending as are former secretary of state hillary clinton and former house speaker paul ryan. former president jimmy carter, who is in his late 90s will be the only living president absent besides trump. i believe we have that comment from the president-elect, joe biden, where he weighed in on trump's attendance earlier today. >> one of the few things he and i have ever agreed on, it's a good thing him not showing up. he exceeded even my worst notions about him. he's been an embarrassment to the country, embarrassed us around the world, not worthy, not worthy to hold that office. >> reporter: shortly after those remarks, the president-elect was asked by reporters whether he felt safe with the inauguration as planned after this week's si

the last time it happened was 1869 when andrew johnson did not go to the inauguration of ulysses s. grant. as far as impeachment, i am told that has really no legs at all according to a source i just spoke with, the white house counsel said the 25th amendment cannot be a substitution for impeachment, but there is impeachment talk on capitol hill. the president basically saying it's over now, the white house is focused on moving ahead with an orderly transition for the biden administration and here's what he said in a video message last night. >> now congress has certified the result, a new administration will be inaugurated on january 20th. my focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly, and seamless transition of power. >> after reports of harsh words exchanged between house minority leader kevin mccarthy and the president on wednesday while the riots were raging, he released a statement today saying when i spoke to the president on wednesday, i told him he had a great responsibility to intervene and quell the mob. dana? >> dana: john roberts, thank you so much. president-elect biden i

it was times like andrew johnson didn't go to ulysses s. grant'ssenhower and truman were very frosty with each other but this is a form of sabotage that the trump team is doing, keeping biden folks blinded by the intelligence information they need to get prepared for january 20th and beyond. >> and potentially dangerous. this is why we have this period for the transition teams to be helping each other as they move into another administration. you've written about many presidents and one is jimmy carter. cnn is premiering a new film sunday night at 9:00 p.m. eastern called "jimmy carter: rock 'n' roll president." >> when willie nelson wrote his autobiography he confessed that he smoked pot in the white house one night when he was spending the night with me. he says his companion that shared the pot with him was one of the servants at the white house. that is not exactly true. it was actualwin of my sons which he didn't want to, you know, categorize as a pot smoker like him. there were some people who didn't like my being deeply involved with willie

. >> and he sure that with ulysses s grant great leaders turned out to be civilians who never imagine themselves as soldiers. and and in the context of west point they were god-fearing pacifist they made mike's uncle because they wanted to express their view. they were conscientious objectors for those family feelings when ike goes off to west point because he cannot wait any longer for his younger brother to put him through college. >> and more details are in the book. >> and we were talking about it earlier. and then it isn't capitalism or socialism or communism. >> he says actually about openness and democracy and then go on to say of a free and open society as opposed to close and secretive society. >> now to fight the enemy perceived to become like the enemy. >> so if i could add two things about this picture. even though they are smiling as united states was thrown into the berlin ultimatum and they are currently threatening the united states of punitive action and turning into were there be no way to defend berlin with conventional weapons and might've turned to nuclear but the

"um, this is ulysses s. grant. "oh, no, damn it oh, you screwed up again, braxton!t surprise us that some of the guys leading this current insurrection against the united states, are also some of the dumbest [ bleep ] alive. you got trump, rudy, and arizona congressman, paul gosar, the first guy to object to arizona's electoral votes yesterday. and who announced even after the insurrection, that he'd be continuing with his objections, which are joined, it should be noted, by over 120 house republicans, the majority of the gop caucus you might remember gosar as the guy whose siblings aired an ad for his democratic opponent in 2018, and not just one of them or two of them, six. six of his siblings openly campaigned against him do you know how humiliating that is that's like if my entire family went on james corden's thanksgiving show. you have a contract, dad also, lock up your gin, james. and here's a question for gosar, since he's from arizona but he's also challenging the arizona results, and this applies to republicans from pennsylvania and georgia and michigan an

in 1876, ulysses s. grant was president.ry of war was a fellow who resigned before he was impeached and then he was impeached in the house and tried in the senate. so it seems that it can happen but it is a fair and open question. i think the better answer is yes. >> we still don't have a time line from speaker pelosi on when she plans to deliver the articles of impeachment to the senate. is there an imperative to hold a trial as soon as possible from a legal perspective, or is it better that it is delayed further as more evidence comes the light? >> well, that's partly a political question and partly an evidentiary question. i'll leave the political part to politicians. but you raise a really good point with. a little more time, we have a little more evidence with. a lot more time presumably you have a lot more evidence. we have a good bit of evidence, by the way, on what happened on january 6th. and it's not just what the president said that day and not just what the mob did that day. it is everything else he said and did

monuments in virginia would not stop at robert e lee, and they are going to tear down columbus, and ulysses s grant owned a slave for about five minutes, you know, despite being a great union general. toppled thist year. so just a lot of the trust that i had in people who were proponents is gone. that's really where that is coming from. susan: does each generation have the right to decide its own heroes? helen: the danger of answering yes to that question is that it means that everything is always up for grabs, and you lose any sense of historical continuity. what that leads to is a great sense of arrogance on the part of the young. you know, we can reinvent history every five minutes, if we want to. we do not owe anything to our ancestors. and the truth is that i think we do owe a lot to history. we come into this world as inheritors of a great tradition and a great country. civilization, a great country. it is our job to, you know, first of all, to be grateful for that and to be good stewards of what we have inherited and pass it along. i think the boomers had no sense of continuity in that way.

after the civil war president ulysses s. grantrica of secretary of war and then stuff started to go wrong. on the relatively meager salary that came with that cabinet

today is something that was not evident when andrew johnson didn't appear in a transition to ulysses s. grantthis is something completely new and completely on donald trump himself. >> maggie, we in this country have all become, i guess, used to expecting surprises from donald trump, expecting reveals. any idea what might happen in the next five hours? >> well, alisyn, i think his life address will be something that candidly, he considers to be truer to who he is than the taped version he revealed yesterday afternoon, which is something a number of advisers had pushed him to do, because it actually focused on the work of the administration that folks who work there are proud of, all of which has been obscured by the last ten weeks of the president's behavior. we will hear a speech. he is then going to go down to palm beach, take his final air force one ride with a handful of aides. some of which are going with him permanently to florida, some of whom are not. and then he'll be greeted by what i'm told is expected to be a fairly large crowd, which is always what he focuses on, once he gets to

aftermath of the civil war and the resurrection of a movement to reinscribe slavery, indeed, ulysses s. grantonfronted with having to uproot the ku klux klan. he realized they were an existential threat to everything that was achieved by that bloody war. and i think that is the circumstance the federal government faces now. they really have to aggressively pursue and root ou this cancerous menace of white nationalism and kind of white extremist militias that are really a functionally movement in more than society. i think that's one thing. the other thing that i think is that we have to be very clear that the dynamics that are connected with trumpism will not necessarily disappear simply because donald trump leaves the stage, to some extent. the phenomenon that we know of as "mccarthyism" preceded joe mblth and extended beyond montgomery's time as a senator. and so the dyn dynamics that mat possible for a person as manifestly unfit as donald trump to rise to the presidency, those dynamics are still in existence. there's still a great deal of resentment about the ethnic makeup of this country.

petulant stunt that hasn't been done since andrew johnson who refused to attend the inauguration of ulysses s. grant all of the ex-presidents getting together to stand with biden. and to remind america what we may have forgotten in recent years because of donald trump's tantrums that the presidency is something about more than yourself. it's about a deeper commitment to service. and i think that's what that trip to arlington expresses. >> one of the moments, i always find an awkward moment in an inauguration, when the outgoing president, you see his departure from andrews, wherever he's leaving and they have that reception there. feels like the day after the wedding where sometimes there's a brunch and everybody gadepart on a plane on the way home. this is not going to be particularly well attended. the president having to send out a vast invite lasation to a vas group of people. i just wonder what it's going to feel like as he creeps away from washington? >> i think it will feel like a party no one wants to attend because in their heart they know they were part of something disgraceal in american h

there's a famous story of ulysses s. grant, when he was a grunt soldier in texas dressing up in a dress to play desdemona in a production on some army base in remote texas. so, shakespeare has this double life, even today, in the library and in the theater. and that was true from the very, very earliest. now, one of the key points, i think, to make about this, is how different shakespeare in the theater and shakespeare in the study really are. there's this misconception that we have even today that the works that we received in print from shakespeare's period, the first folio in 1623, and productions that reached print, half of shakespeare's plays, while he was alive. we tend to think that the theater then worked like it does today, where the script that we buy in a bookstore is exactly what was spoken on stage, because that's now in contemporary american theater. that's just gospel. right? the thing that reaches print is the thing that was said. not true, back then. and so, the life of a play onstage and the life of a play in

3 times in the past but the last time 111869 that's when andrew johnson lost the election to ulysses s. grant what is interesting is that johnson had been impeached by congress the same as donald trump so decided not to go because of the and now and there are reports that the president is looking to pardon himself can he actually do not. well that's a very good legal question that me well high actually go all the way to the supreme court to be decided donald trump has been talking about self pardoning since this summer pardoning not just himself but others around him there are a few problems of that 1st of all he have course has used to fight the department of justice in the 1970 s. issued a memo around the time of richard nixon saying that no president can be charged with any offense while a set of being in office and he said only use that and we know that william barr his attorney general used that when the miller report came out remember there were allegations there of obstruction of justice but bill barr invoked that memo said we can't use you can't be charged because we have this standin

but make no mistake, there was a secretary of war under president ulysses s. grant who thought he could escape impeachment by the day before the senate ruled resigning. it didn't work. the next day after he resigned, the senate still impeached him. i think there's precedent to suggest that even if donald trump has left town, he's still going to be held responsible for what happened january 6th. >> several of your democratic colleagues have called on republican senators josh hawley of missouri and ted cruz of texas to resign for their roles in spreading election lies and acting as if there was a possibility that trump actually would still stay as president, all of which helped fuel the capitol riots. ohio senator sherrod brown said if they don't resign, the senate should vote to expel them. they're not going to resign. are you considering bringing to the floor an expulsion measure? >> i haven't heard that suggested, but i will tell you that any senator or congressman who was complicit in either planning or executing that insurrection aimed at the united states capito

andrew johnson back in 869 not to attend the inauguration of his successor in that case it was ulysses s. grant so he will be missing today former presidents will be here at the inauguration of the former presidents in fact that once joe biden is inaugurated he will go along 'd with president obama. w. bush and clinton to the lincoln cemetery to lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier i think that is a very symbolic moment to show we are the former presidents who are here we are united states and this day is more. than just about the presidency it is about the country and i think that's a highly symbolic moment that will see later on today with the other former presidents and usually by this point in the day you've got the incoming president and the 1st lady being received over the coming couple of hours at the white house they have tea they have coffee it's all smiles there's a photo op and there is regularly genuine warmth between the outgoing president and the incoming president i mean you mentioned w. bush the george w. bush and michelle obama they are pretty much b.s. if they genui

explain loss, right, you have the old joke, you know robert e lee didn't surrender, what was it, ulysses s. grant asked for his sword and he didn't give it back. he didn't surrender, he had it stolen. it's silly, but it's a joke that allows you to see the confederates as superior. they had superior gentlemen as their commanders despite the fact that lets be clear. robert everyone lee and stone wall jackson committed treason per se. treason is outlined in the u.s. constitution, it's very clear on what it qualifies as treason, taking up arms against the united states government is treason. that's what it's called. this is not me being political, this is just what the constitution says. they took an oath to the u.s. constitution, right, they took an oath to the united states when they were at west point and they broke that oath. you can say they resigned but oaths don't usually end with a resignation. regardless, you know, that aspect of them is erased in the same way that robert e! lee being remembered as kind to enslaved people despite being remembered to enslaved people as a terrible master who w

mississippi, down into the heart of the confederacy and approached vicksburg from the east while ulysses s. grant william tecumseh sherman were approaching from the west and the north -- little-known story. he was picking up black troops along the way and would end up supporting him. freed slaves. he is still in service now in the 1880's, and this mission occurs. the main column begins to advance on vittorio at rattlesnake springs. they ultimately did not capture him, but henry flipper distinguished himself, by the horsemanship of those involved writing miles and miles at a gallop and helping to lead that regiment. but vector garrison, where trouble always occurs. he faced the same ostracism he endured at. west point and was carried into his regiment some of the white officers, some of whom were even his classmates, did not believe he should have been there in the first place, and they found ways to essentially entrap him. now, there is more to the story of these sorts of things. while he was accused of embezzlement as the quartermaster officer who was responsible for maintaining the stores that

but also the thing i thought up is ulysses s. grant when he said white supremacy had to be defeated. and of course grant famously among his achievements in office was breaking the back of the ku klux klan, the surging ku klux klan, which he saw as being a threat to undoing emancipation. and so in some way, you have joe biden following interrupted albeit the legacy of barack obama with his great kind of high point moment in american politics irrespective of what you might think about individual policies, and then it falling to him to really shoulder the burden of fighting against the people who would undo the legacy of that. >> yeah. >> so i think it was a really kind of profound moment. >> it was very striking when biden introduced merrick garland to be his attorney general that he -- one of the things he talked about was the birth of the department of justice in the era of reconstruction and that its first mission was breaking the back of the klan. the first thing the department of justice did as a federal entity actually was to go in

ulysses s. grant, the president who came in after andrew johnson , pushed on multiple fronts -- the department of justice, he sent federal troops down to the south, and they really gutted a chunk of that terrorism that was going on. there were large numbers of people killed. we have had to deal with clan related violence in various other periods. you look at the 1960's and 1970's, we also had, in and around the vietnam war era and the civil rights era, high numbers on multiple sides of attacks and plots and even deaths from terrorist organizations in the u.s.. but we ended up overcoming both of those periods by coming together as a nation, committing to ending this decay of truth and coming together as a nation. it will never end terrorism likely will never end crime, but every period, we have come back together as a nation, as one nation, as president lincoln noted in his second inaugural address, come together and unify as much as possible. i think that is what we need to do. host: one of our social