Looking for comments before I post this where my Republican friends will see it...
It seems to me that this should be in some sort of a blog, but I don’t have a blog, so here it is:
I often do appearances as Abraham Lincoln. When I portray President Lincoln, I try to keep modern politics entirely out of it. I usually respond with “I have been out of politics for 150 years, and I think I’ll stay retired” whenever someone asks me what I think of a particular modern political topic. But Trump said something last night that hit a nerve, and I feel like I have to respond.
Speaking at a Black church in Detroit last night, Trump was not attempting to sway Black voters. He was clearly attempting to ease the consciences of White voters who are trying hard to not believe that Trump is racist.
He said: "A lot of people don't realize that Abraham Lincoln — the great Abraham Lincoln — was a Republican," Trump said. "It is on his legacy that I hope to build the future of the party."
As one who studies a lot about President Lincoln, this made me throw up a little bit in my mouth. IMHO Donald Trump is far removed from Abraham Lincoln in every way I can think of:
Abraham Lincoln famously appointed his bitterest rivals to his cabinet. He understood that he could make the best decisions by listening to opposing viewpoints as well as his own, and THEN making his decision based on his best judgment. Trump famously fires (“You’re Fired!”) anyone who disagrees with him. He clearly expects everyone around him to be a sycophant. This is why he has had three (at least) people leading his campaign committee.
Even Lincoln was known to shade the truth a little from time to time, as every President has. I have noted before that Lincoln said, when running against Douglas, that “I have never said publicly that I believe that the races should be treated equally” (paraphrased), if you read it carefully, he isn’t saying that he currently believes the races shouldn’t be treated equally, but that is clearly what he is trying to convey. But Trump clearly has no relationship with the real world. He makes up facts faster than the fact-checkers can debunk them. Over 90% of the statements by Trump have been found to be Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire. Lincoln once told a student “If you can’t be an honest lawyer, be an honest something else.” Telling people that “more police are being killed than ever before” is not only demonstrably false, the fact is that police are less likely to be killed on the job than at any time in the last 30 years. The same holds for his assertion that Muslims are allowed to immigrate without being fully vetted (utter hogwash) and countless other similar assertions he makes every day.
And while Trump is famous for his thin skin and belittling everyone who disagrees with him, referring to “Crooked Hillary” (Who is he, awaiting trial for racketeering and fraud, to call anyone “crooked”?), and calling Rosie O’Donnell “ugly” for disagreeing with him (Where does he get off calling anyone else ugly?), Lincoln was famous for respecting his rivals adversaries. I don’t recall a single instance after his near-duel with James Shields (after which they became friends) when Lincoln resorted to name-calling. Whenever someone calls out Trump on one of his many lies, his response is ALWAYS “He’s a bad journalist” or “Her ratings are lousy”, or famously “She has blood coming out of her wherever.” It is never ever an actual defense of the lie.
Trump’s policies seem to closely match the “Know-Nothing” party of Lincoln’s time, which closely matches the KKK and other white supremacist organizations of today, who seem to unanimously endorse Trump. Lincoln said “I am not a Know-Nothing. That is certain. How could I be? … Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we begin by declaring that ‘all men are created equal.’ We now practically read it ‘all men are created equal, except negroes.’ When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read ‘all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and catholics.’ When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty-to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy.”
Rather interesting, given Trump’s ties to Russian investors.
Trump’s comparisons of himself to Lincoln are deeply offensive to me.
End of rant. For now.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Oh, really? I've known it practically from the time I could read!!
Wonder who he's talking about.
Thanks for your rant!!
you know, right around the time he found out that Lincoln was a Republican. 
Response to MichiganVote (Reply #4)
Response to MichiganVote (Reply #22)
They more than deserve some come-uppance
It is a meme that I have never understood how it even became a meme.
It is more than childish. It is simple.
