Robert E Lee
Robert E. Lee

Donald Trump had nothing but praise for Confederate General Robert E. Lee after watching televised images of a crane removing the statue of that slave-owning American traitor from its base in Richmond.

He hailed Lee as a military genius who would have led the South to victory, except for Gettysburg.

That’s like saying the New York Mets would have won the World Series, except they didn’t make the playoffs.

Trump is not known for his humor but he has to be kidding. Gettysburg was a disaster for Lee and his army.

It was pure hubris on Lee’s behalf to think his undermanned army could take on the 90K federal troops who were dug in at well-fortified positions at Gettysburg.

Against the advice of trusted advisor General James Longstreet, who wanted to fight on a more favorable ground, Lee ordered waves of frontal assaults on the federals.

On the third day of heavy fighting, Lee ordered General Pickett to charge the center of the Union lines.

It was a suicide mission.

Marching in a mile-long formation, the rebels were shredded by cannon and musket fire from Little Round Top. Half of the 13K men in Pickett’s Charge were killed, wounded or captured.

Upon returning to the Confederate base, Lee ordered Pickett to reorganize his men for another attack.

“General Lee, I have no division now,” Pickett famously said.

Lee lost a third of his 70K troops at Gettysburg, which became known as the High-Water Mark of the Confederacy for the temporary breach of the Union line at Cemetery Ridge.

He wrote a letter of resignation to Confederate president Jefferson Davis, which was rejected.

“If only we had Robert E. Lee to command our troops in Afghanistan, that disaster would have ended in a complete and total victory many years ago,” said Trump.

It’s Lee’s statue and that of the other Confederate traitors (Jeb Stuart, Stonewall Jackson, Matthew Fontaine Maury and Davis) on Richmond’s Monument Ave. that should have been taken down many years ago.

Tallying the economic and mental cost of COVID-19. A Gallup study finds 45 percent of workers have been affected “a lot” by the pandemic.

Fifty-three percent of that group temporarily stopped working, half took pay cuts and 49 percent worked fewer hours due to COVID-19.

Only one in five are “engaged” workers who are enthusiastic about their jobs, while 43 percent are stressed, 25 percent are sad and 24 percent are angry.

Gallup estimated that low employee engagement costs the global economy $8.1T.

“If 80 percent of an organization’s employees are not engaged at work, the organization’s resilience during a crisis will be at high risk and leaders won’t be able to consistently reach their goals. There is no way for leaders to be effective when their people aren’t paying attention to them,” says Gallup’s “State of the Global Workplace: 2021 Report.”