GOP stopped being ‘party of Lincoln’ long before Trump
March 9, 2016
Last week, House Speaker Paul Ryan denounced Donald Trump for playing footsie with David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan, saying Republicans are “the party of Lincoln.” The speaker is to be applauded for denouncing Trump’s dog whistle racial politics, but he’s got his history wrong. Today’s Republican Party is a far remove from the party of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln fought to save the Union, and after the Confederate surrender he moved to reconcile warring states in order “to build a more perfect Union.” Lincoln’s party introduced and ratified the 13th Amendment, legally ending slavery. Today, 20 percent of Republicans