Lloyd Russell: Lincoln would be run out of today’s Republican Party

Republicans sometimes bill themselves as the “party of Lincoln.” They must mean the Lincoln Continental, because if the man on the $5 bill were alive today, the tea party or the Freedom Caucus would brand him a RINO or “cuckservative.”

Unlike Abraham Lincoln, some of today’s morally atrophied members would never consent to emancipating someone’s property or denying a state’s right to discriminate. In 2010, Rand Paul said he didn’t approve of anyone telling private businesses they had to serve people of all races. Trump must agree: In 1973, the Trump company was sued by the U.S. Justice Department for racial discrimination in apartment renting.

In his second inaugural address, near the end of the civil war, Lincoln spoke of “binding up the nation’s wounds.” Today, Trump attacks everything from voting rights to women, Mexicans and Colin Kaepernick. He would rather open new wounds and pound salt into old ones than heal anything.

Republicans waste vast amounts of air justifying their selfishness and moral blindness, including Trump’s stupidly short-sighted withdrawal from the Paris accords just so his rich buddies and Scott Pruitt’s clients can continue using the earth as their private trash compactor.

This story was originally published October 13, 2017 at 11:43 AM with the headline "Lloyd Russell: Lincoln would be run out of today’s Republican Party."