Republicans, the Party of Lincoln?

Now, when I read someone claiming the mantle of Lincoln for the Republican party, I have to wonder: do you need to go that far back to gain legitimacy on civil rights and have you seen lately have far Republicans are from Abraham Lincoln’s ideals?

It is true that Democrats were the main obstructionists to treating people of color equally for many decades, but a funny thing happened on the way to passing the Civil Rights Act: Lyndon Johnson, knowing that his support for it would doom Democrats chances in the South for at least a generation, went ahead and pushed it through. Then, starting with Richard Nixon, the Republican party gladly stepped in to ally themselves with Southern racists that were once Democrats.

And now today, it is not a Democratic president that couldn’t bring himself to condemn the racists marching in Charlottesville. It was Donald J. Trump who owns the Republican Party and leads it further astray from Lincoln’s ideals.

But it is not Trump alone, other Republicans are working overtime to show they have lost their way. Look at the power grabs being instigated now in Wisconsin and Michigan using North Carolina of 2 years ago as their model—taking away powers from incoming Democrats and dishonoring the voter’s intent.

When Lincoln was an Illinois state legislator, he gave a speech in which he said: "To those who claim omnipotence for the Legislature, and who in the plenitude of their assumed powers are disposed to disregard the Constitution, law, good faith, moral right, and everything else, I have not a word to say.”

I think it is highly disingenuous, if not dishonest for Republicans to call themselves the party of Lincoln.

Trump's climate change tweet lambasted by scientists: 'He's a dangerous clown'

On Thursday, the president tweeted: “Brutal and Extended Cold Blast could shatter ALL RECORDS - Whatever happened to Global Warming?”

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But experts were quick to point out a flaw in Trump’s argument: the difference between weather and climate. The term “weather” relates to conditions in the atmosphere over a short period of time, whereas “climate” denotes long-term trends, according to NASA.

Environmentalist Bill McKibben responded to the president's tweet with a chart illustrating this important difference, by demonstrating how global temperatures have risen by 1.2°C above preindustrial levels.

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Dr. Michael Mann, professor of atmospheric science at Pennsylvania State University, told Huffington Post “[the tweet] demonstrates once again that Donald Trump is not an individual to be taken seriously on any topic, let alone matters as serious as climate change.

"He is a clown — a dangerous clown," he said. 

Mann told Newsweek: "It is disturbing to see the titular head of our nation misinforming the public about the greatest threat we face—the threat of catastrophic climate change impacts. Not only has Trump sought to dismantle the environmental protections put in place by previous administrations, he has also sought to lower the level of discourse by making nonsensical public comments that are untruthful factually, and deliberately conflate normal day-to-day weather fluctuations with climate change.

"It is shameful, irresponsible and most unbecoming of someone who would call himself President of the United States."

Excerpted from Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trumps-climate-change-tweet-lambasted-scientists-hes-dangerous-clown-1227310