Elizabeth Warren and Some Republicans Agree This Man Was a Loser

“Winning, Victory, and Freedom.”

Braxton Bragg

Braxton Bragg, probably thinking about one of his many failures.Wikimedia Commons

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump went on a toot about Confederate generals. The spark for his anger was the renewed push to rename the 10 United States military bases named after Confederate officers—that is, people who took up arms against the United States to preserve slavery. According to the president, those bases are part of a tradition of “Winning, Victory, and Freedom.” According to his spokesperson, Kayleigh McEnany, renaming the bases would be “a complete disrespect to the men and women, who the last bit of American land they saw before they went overseas and lost their lives were these forts.” You never want to do “a complete disrespect.”

Trump sees all problems as nails that can be fixed with his handy racism hammer, but on this issue, at least, that impulse has left him on an island apart from others in his own party. Although he expressed his optimism that Republicans “won’t fall for this,” the idea quickly picked up steam. On Thursday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) signaled he’d be open to renaming the bases, and a number of Senate Republicans endorsed an amendment authored by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) mandating that the bases be renamed within three years. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D) told Talking Points Memo he didn’t see the point of naming a base after a “traitor.” Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) noted that Braxton Bragg, for whom Fort Bragg is named, “was probably the worst commanding general in the Confederate army.” The Republican-controlled Senate Armed Services Committee approved Warren’s amendment by voice vote.

Fort Tubman here we come.

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate