When Lincoln was a Republican: Long before the #FormerGuy

The year 2020, was a terrible year for Republicans. 

Echo opinion letter published in the Lawrence Journal-World, a Kansas newspaper.

This former Marine officer swore, like every serviceman or woman, that we would uphold the Constitution and defend it*. 

From Lincoln to sedition

The day America realized how dangerous Donald Trump is

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was a Republican. But he was such a different man than most of the current Republicans who are merely a cult of #FormerGuy Donald Trump, arguably the worst president in our history.

It frightens me that we came so close to losing our democracy in the presidential election of 2020. And many Republicans are still believing that there was fraud, despite evidence to the contrary, believing the lies of Trump and GOP members of Congress.

Honesty , above all, became President Lincoln’s hallmark. He acquired the name of Honest Abe when working as a store clerk, walking several miles to return a few pennies to a customer and carried this reputation of honesty the rest of his life.

President Lincoln warned against internal threats. Always remember, my fellow Americans, Jan. 6, the day the president urged his supporters to take the Capitol. It was sedition, which is the crime of revolting or inciting revolt against the government, which happened as we all saw. Trump’s supporters were trying to stop the process of counting electoral ballots.

From Lincoln to sedition, that’s where Republicans stand now.

Richard Sengpiehl, Lawrence, Kansas

*I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed ...