CHCUK STILLAMN

The president took a few minutes before his Tulsa rally to talk about Charles Stillman's legacy and that as Brownsville's founder his many successes on behalf of the Third World Capital of the United States more than compensate for his absolute sympathies for slavery and the Confederacy:

"His descendants adore him much like my children rate me as one of the three greatest presidents along with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Based on my knowledge of him, Chuck Stillman was a very fine American. Can you imagine Brownsville if Chuck hadn't taken control of the city's establishment? It would be another Matamoros filled with rapists and murderers.

"I don't have any problems with Chuck once owning slaves. Washington and Jefferson owned slaves. Owning slaves at that time in our history is no different than Brownsville residents hiring Mexican women to take care of their children and their homes and paying them slave wages.

"As to his leaving the Union for the Confederacy even though he was born in Connecticut and died in New York, Brownsville had left the Union and to do business you had to be a Confederate in order to survive. Chuck was no different in his thinking than my decision to leave the Democratic Party for the Republican Party. I could not survive politically as a Democrat and only as a Republican could I become your president.

"Chuck would have never been a multi-millionaire if he had remained a citizen of the USA. I know that as a businessman you have to make tough decisions and I respect Chuck for thinking outside the box.

"As to the Civil War, you have to remember that there were good people of both sides. Bobby Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis were great patriots during the Mexican-American War. If it weren't for them and other fine Southerners, California, among other states, would still be a part of Mexico. Just like Chuck turned a chunk of Mexican land into America, Lee and his comrades helped fulfill our Manifest Destiny calling as we stretched our boundaries from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.

"I recently read that Brownsville removed its memorial to Jefferson Davis. I shouldn't be surprised that a Democratic town would spit on our country's past. 'Tiny' Trey Mendez would never make it in the big time. I wouldn't be astonished if he decided to replace July Fourth with Juneteenth. I have no doubts that the South will rise again in spite of all these black and brown troublemakers who want to undermine our heritage by destroying our heroes and substituting them with the likes of Martin Luther King and Cesar Chavez.

"I hear that there are rabblerousers in Brownsville who want to desecrate Chuck's fine reputation and many outstanding contributions to the community by razing his home and stripping a middle school of his name. For those who believe that he should be punished for being a slaveholder and a traitor, I say you can't let a few trees blind you to the forest.

"In his later years he released his slaves and he was genuinely apologetic for switching sides during the Civil War. Chuck died a proud American. I find it very disturbing that anyone would challenge Chuck's impeccable reputation. Brownsville is a better place thanks to the efforts of Chuck Stillman."