The establishment media sneered when President Trump recently noted poll results showing his popularity among Republicans, and stated that he was more popular than Lincoln. Forgotten, however, is the fact that Lincoln was quite unpopular as President, even for statements and actions for which he is now revered.
13 Comments on Robert Spencer: Trump May Really Be More Popular Than Lincoln Was
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Lincoln was unpopular because the truth is that he was a ham-fisted, constitutional destroying, vile, vomitous tyrant. He was in fact a murderous, self-serving sack of dung, only interested in pleasing the “establishment” politicians and financiers of his time at the expense of the hundreds of thousands of lives his policies destroyed on both sides for his own political benefit.
Lincoln had the entire Maryland state legislature arrested and imprisoned for the duration of the war because he was afraid they would side with the Confederacy.
Lincoln had dozens of northern newspaper editors imprisoned for disagreeing with him.
Lincoln issued an arrest warrant for a Supreme Court Justice because he had the temerity to state that what Lincoln was doing was unconstitutional.
Lincoln was responsible for the deaths of close to 1,000,000 men, women and children (about 700,000 soldiers on both sides) by pushing a war that wasn’t necessary. All because he wanted the southern states to keep paying increasing tariffs to fund the “federal government” that was actively stealing from the southern states at the point of a gun in order to finance the “robber barons” of the northern states.
The “Emancipation Procalamation” was an attempt to make the war about slavery 2 years into the war while several northern states continued slave ownership at the same time. It was a successful attempt to make slavery the scapegoat for the war.
The history we have been taught all our lives is utterly false. The internet allows us to see him for what he was if we are willing to research the facts and face the truth.
Trump is the anti-Lincoln because he is trying to benefit all Americans with his policies. He should be far more popular than Lincoln could ever dream of if our state-run schools and the “independent press” actually provided honest education /reporting for the people.
And just as Lincoln grew in popularity with blacks, so is Trump. And by doing the same thing for them.
I’m pretty sure if Trump and the “Rail Splitter” were in a relationship, Trump would be the top.
@Bubba’s Brother:
Your response reminds me that it must be the winners that write the history because most reasonable folks don’t view Lincoln the way you and most of the folks over at the bar you frequent must. Disgruntled southerner, you say?
Lincoln, like Trump today, lived in times when a large majority of the country has been polarized and set against each other over the concepts of immigration, taxes, abortion, gender identity, and gun ownership.
In a strange way no one is advocating “states rigts” like they did then but are pushing individual choice now as the mandate. It is not about slavery to economics but it is about slavery to ideology.
Lincoln worked to save they country, and he did. Trump is also working to save America and he’s also being just as vilified as ol’ Abe was.
Perhaps if Lee had not been so sure an attack on the center would work at Gettysburg history may have been different and what you say about Lincoln may be the recorded history. But it isn’t. Thank God for Lincoln and thank God for Trump.
@Bubba’s,
Yep, that sums it up succinctly.
What cracks me up the most, modern Democrats think (oxymoron), Lincoln was a Democrat.
He would make a pretty ‘good’ one too.
Honest Abe, wasn’t.
Hans the Christian
Most “reasonable folks” don’t know Lincoln or History for that matter, having been taught the Myth of Lincoln and not the true actions of the man.
Goodbye to Gold and Glory
https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/clyde-wilson-library/goodbye-to-gold-and-glory/
The Treasury of Counterfeit Virtue
https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/clyde-wilson-library/the-treasury-of-counterfeit-virtue/
Lincoln War Crimes
The list of indictments was long:
Violation of the Constitution and his oath of office by invading and waging war against states that had legally and democratically withdrawn their consent from his government, inaugurating one of the cruelest wars in recent history.
Subverting the duly constituted governments of states that had not left the Union, thereby subverting their constitution right to “republican form of government.”
Raising troops without the approval of Congress and expending funds without appropriation.
Suspending the writ of habeas corpus and interfering with the press without due process, imprisoning thousands of citizens without charge or trial, and closing courts by military force where no hostilities were occurring.
Corrupting the currency by manipulations and paper swindles unheard of in previous US history.
Fraud and corruption by appointees and contractors with his knowledge and connivance.
Continuing the war by raising ever-larger bodies of troops by conscription and hiring of foreign mercenaries and refusing to negotiate in good faith for an end to hostilities.
Confiscation of millions of dollars of property by his agents in the South, especially cotton, without legal proceedings.
Waging war against women and children and civilian property as the matter of policy (rather than as unavoidably incident to combat). (General Sherman and others were called to testify as to their operations and the source of their orders.)
The deliberate starvation and murder of Confederate prisoners.
Two questions widely discussed at the time could not be formulated into systematic charges against Lincoln. One was the huge number of deaths among the black population in the South as a result of forcible dislocation by “Union” forces.
No accurate account was ever achieved, but the numbers ran into several hundred thousand persons who had died of disease, starvation, and exposure on the roads or in the army camps.
In Search of the Real Abe Lincoln
https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/in-search-of-the-real-abe-lincoln/
Lincoln, Crony Capitalism, and Populism
https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/lincoln-crony-capitalism-and-populism/
The Dark Side of Abraham Lincoln
https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/review/the-dark-side-of-abraham-lincoln/
Anyone interested in this subject should read the articles on the Abbeville Blog site. It has many enlightening, and very provocative articles.
Oh, FFS
Miller Lite commercial..
Tastes Great or Less Filling
Civil War….
The war of northern aggression or the war of southern secession.
Opinion…
I am right, you are wrong.
Sheesh
Yep, as sadly noted those who win write the history and those who lose whine the history.
The only question we face today is whether America is worth saving or not and what methods, provocations, or actions will be used to dissolve or bind it tighter together.
I am a strict constructionist of the Constitution and hold tightly to the Bill of Rights and our Amendments. I believe the best government is one that is as small as possible and fears the people.
Do I believe that sometimes extraordinary circumstances require measures that may not have the best interests of a small few but overall does maximum good?
As a seaman I became used to having the Captain and the Officer of the Conn tell me where to steer rather than go my own way. Sometimes I was asked to steer by seaman’s eye but only on occasion and usually only in calm waters.
Men such as George Washington, John Adams, Andrew Jackson, Abe Lincoln, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and now Donald Trump, among others, have been selected as our leader – not perfect men but willing to command and meet the needs of their times. So be it.
I think Mr. Trump is becoming popular not so much because of, but as relief of knowing such men still exist in America.
@Hans – how enlightened and Christian of you to stoop to ad hominem attacks on me rather than actually defending the supposed validity of your position. Of course, in order to defend your position, you’d have to know something about the actual history of Lincoln’s War (which you clearly don’t). Refusing to remain ignorant of true history doesn’t make me a “disgruntled southerner” – it makes me a well-informed person regardless of my heritage. We should learn from history rather than ignore it.
Anyone that bothers to objectively study the in depth history surrounding this issue would rightly see Lincoln as a very evil man that did more long term harm to America than any other president in history (for his own political benefit and the financial benefit of his cronies, not misguided, sentimental notions about “saving the country” as we have been taught).
The overwhelming reason that Lincoln wanted to “preserve the union” was so the central government in DC could continue to plunder the southern states through punitive tariffs. I’m sure you were never taught this fact, but it is a fact that about 75% of all revenues to the federal government in 1859 came from excise taxes and tariffs levied on southern ports. Without control of the southern ports, the central government in DC would have had to survive on only a fourth of their “usual” revenue (or raise taxes drastically on the remaining states) and Lincoln and his crony financial backers couldn’t allow that no matter what it cost the poor bastards that actually had to fight the war (on both sides).
Cato posted some excellent reading material that will enlighten you if you care to learn real history instead of hurl baseless insults at people you know nothing about. One of my favorite columnists, Walter Williams, wrote an enlightening piece (2 parts) about this issue as well and it would behoove you to read if you want to learn more factual history rather than continue to be misinformed.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/williams071515.php3
http://walterewilliams.com/historical-ignorance-ii/
Just so you know, I don’t spend any time in bars and haven’t for 30 years or so. I spend a lot of my time reading and studying things like history and the Bible. Based on your snarky little responses, it appears you’d be better off if you spent more time doing this as well.
@Bubba’s Brother
Well didn’t you take me out and spank me.
Historical perspective (from whatever source you quote) does not preclude the outcome of Mr. Lincoln’s actions to keep the Union together. BTW, I live not more than 25 miles from Gettysburg and have been visiting and studying the Civil War for over 50 years (did a Minor Thesis on that Battle for my B.S.).
Granted not every action of every government is pure, and there are always interest groups driving legislation. But if the South had won the war none of us would have the same experiences or attitudes we have today about what Mr. Lincoln (or the neurotic castles-in-air builder Jefferson Davis who suffered from his own “special interest groups” as well) did.
I have sat in on at 5 civil war round tables discussing such issues you speak and none outshine the sterling (ahem) motives of the southern gentlemen either.
It’s too bad I offended you, but my opinion, like yours, regarding historical issues, is just as valid. And from my viewpoint, given what circumstances he faced, Lincoln was a good President who tolerated some bad generals too long.
My great grandfather, and 3 great-grand uncles served in the Maryland Calvary btw.
The next thing I expect is to be told that Jimmy Carter and Bubba Clinton were good presidents. I do not claim to be a perfect Christian just a struggling Christian who doesn’t usually take cheap shots. My butt hurts a little.
Hans – my great great grandfather was a POW taken at Chattanooga (eventually released in a swap) and one of my great great uncles died of measles in camp and is buried at Spotsylvania (his brother was fortunate enough to recover from the measles in the same camp). They were four brothers (along with at least 4 of their cousins) who were conscripts that were forced to leave their families to fight in a war that was completely avoidable and unnecessary. Much of the family’s crops, animals and homes (my father still lives in the area and owns some of the original family land) were stolen and destroyed by Sherman’s marauders as they “marched through Georgia”.
It’s not so much that you offended me as that your first reaction to my original post was to stereotype me as a drunken, southern hillbilly with a chip on my shoulder which is sadly not surprising. Knowing the history of why Lincoln thought it more important to violate and shred the constitution in order to supposedly save it, I simply get tired of people celebrating him as if he were a hero because they were never taught the truth. The fact is that he was directly responsible for killing close to a million of his fellow countrymen and causing severe, long term economic hardship for millions more (including the southern slaves that were displaced from what homes and “livelihoods” they had) simply because they existed in the southern US.
Secession was always considered as being a right of sovereign states from the time the union was formed (many of the newspaper editors that pointed out this fact were imprisoned by Lincoln for the duration of the war without due process). But Lincoln unilaterally voided that basic understanding by brute force rather than even attempting a legislative fix or negotiating a more equitable economic agreement with the southern states that might have preserved the union without all the bloodshed and suffering.
Lincoln is the progenitor for the unconstitutional, “all powerful” federal government tyranny that we have today. It was Lincoln’s actions in direct violation of the constitution using the unrestrained force of government troops (total war) against his fellow citizens that laid the foundation for the unconstitutional government overreach we have in every area of our lives today. State’s rights along with the rights of the individual were abrogated by force by the federal government which is precisely what the constitution was conceived and designed to prevent.
To get back to the original point of the thread, if the actual truth about Lincoln’s war were taught, he would not be seen as a hero or as being “popular” at all. He used raw power and murderous intent to keep the vast revenues from the southern states flowing to the central government and his “robber barrons” which completely stripped the southern states (and its peoples) of the sovereignty that was supposed to be guaranteed to them under the constitution. Lincoln was one of the original members of the tyrannical swamp of self serving corruption that Washington, DC has become today.
Trump should be far more popular than Lincoln ever was if for no other reason than he hasn’t suspended the protections of state and individual rights set forth in the constitution, nor has he killed a million of his fellow citizens for his own political benefit (and he shows no signs of attempting to do so). By all appearances, Trump is fighting against the rancid corruption in our federal government rather than playing an active role in expanding it by destroying the few remaining protections we have under our constitution for his own personal benefit.
And Jimmah Carter and BJ Clinton were pathetic excuses for presidents (and Clinton is still a pathetic excuse for a human being). It’s not a “southern thing” but rather a question of basic morality and fidelity to the constitution with me.
Sadly sometimes my sense of humor overcomes me and I say things I probably shouldn’t but the remark (off the cuff) of the southern drinker comes from a statement that one of the historians I once talked too said the biggest problem the northern vets of the great war had while attending reunions was talking to the southerners civilly because they were most always drunk on a peach brandy or a mint julep and would only express regrets over lost opportunities in sodden phrases.
I have no doubt that what the government did during reconstruction (handled by that wonderful president Johnson) in the south was tragic and harmed relationships, recovery, and delayed dealing with the ex-slaves but I’m not too sure Lincoln could have been considered a part of the dc swamp who gleefully perpetuated the punishment. Lincoln’s surrender terms were far less severe than they could have been and he was killed before his plan was implemented.
Thanks for the intellectual discourse and stimulation. (I did have a great, great, great (etc.) grandfather who died at the battle of Yorktown, and my father was a Japanese POW for the whole war (as he made the big walk after MacArthur left).