Donald Trump asked black voters to "honour" him in the US midterm elections - minutes before praising Confederate soldier, General Robert E. Lee. Speaking in front of 4,000 people at a rally in Lebanon, Ohio, the president described the controversial figure as a “great general”, despite fighting to preserve slavery laws in the US during the civil war."So Robert E. Lee was a great general. And Abraham Lincoln developed a phobia. He couldn’t beat Robert E. Lee,” Trump said."Man was he a good general. And he’s finally being recognized as a great general,” he later added. The spontaneous sermon came minutes after urging African Americans to vote for him and “get away from the Democrats."The comments threaten to reignite tensions surrounding America’s racial history, just weeks before the midterms. Trump has drawn widespread criticism in the past for vocalising his affinity for the preservation of Confederate statues including Robert E. Lee’s.In last August’s Charlottesville riots, the President refused to publicly condemn the acts of white supremacists insisting there were “very fine people on both sides" of the clash. Resulting in a huge backlash, many questioned whether the President placed moral equivalence between fighting for racial equality and fighting for white supremacy. But one year after the protests, on August 11th, Trump stated he’s opposed to “all types of racism”. The midterm elections will be held on Tuesday, November 6th.