Donald Trump is weirdly obsessed with Abraham Lincoln envy
Trump Is Locked in a Posthumous Feud With Abe Lincoln
A complete timeline of this shockingly active (and bizarre) rivalry.
Donald Trump has serious beef with every living former president. While the Bidens, Bushes, Clintons, and Obamas have made a big show of their post–White House chumminess, Trump’s vicious smears and elaborate conspiracy theories against his predecessors have left him excluded from the ex-presidents club.
I’ll ‘heal the divisions’ like Lincoln … starting by suing my accusers.
During a 2016, speech at what he called the “hallowed ground” of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, then-candidate Trump claimed that, if elected, he would look to unify the nation like the 16th president.
“President Lincoln served at a time of division like we’ve never seen before,” he said. “It is my hope that we can look to his example to heal the divisions we are living through right now. We are a very divided nation.”
Then, just like Honest Abe, Trump slammed the “totally rigged” political system, attacked the media for misreporting his crowd size, and said of his many sexual-assault accusers, “All of these liars will be sued after the election is over.”
January 2017: During a 2016, speech at what he called the “hallowed ground” of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, then-candidate Trump claimed that, if elected, he would look to unify the nation like the 16th president.
“President Lincoln served at a time of division like we’ve never seen before,” he said. “It is my hope that we can look to his example to heal the divisions we are living through right now. We are a very divided nation.”
Then, just like Honest Abe, Trump slammed the “totally rigged” political system, attacked the media for misreporting his crowd size, and said of his many sexual-assault accusers, “All of these liars will be sued after the election is over.”
‘I don’t know if it’s ever been done before.’
The night before his first inauguration, Trump held a concert at the Lincoln Memorial. He gave Abe a vigorous salute, then started bragging about his own historic achievements.
“This started out tonight being a small little concert, and then we had the idea, Maybe we will do it in front of the Lincoln Memorial,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s ever been done before, but if it has, very seldom. And the people came by the thousands and thousands.”
There have actually been a good number of historic musical performances at the national monument. But sure, no other president has serenaded Abe with the Rolling Stones’ “Heart of Stone.”
‘I can be more presidential than any president’ … except Lincoln.
July 2018: ‘I beat our Honest Abe’ in the polls.
In the summer of 2018, Trump started referring to a “new poll” that had him “over 90 percent,” making him “the most popular Republican in history of the Party.”
During a trip to the U.K., the president bragged about this to The Sun, saying, “You know, a poll just came out that I am the most popular person in the history of the Republican Party. Beating Lincoln. I beat our Honest Abe.”
A few weeks later, even Trump seemed doubtful — with good reason. There were no polls in the 1860s, and we never got to the bottom of what survey he was referencing.
Faulkner, who is Black, pushed back, noting, “Well, we are free, Mr. President. He did pretty well.”
Trump replied, “But we are free. You understand what I mean. So I’m gonna take a pass on Abe — Honest Abe, as we call him.”
Trump, who repeatedly defended the Confederacy, says he's done more for black community than any president with possible exception of Abraham Lincoln but then adds of Lincoln: "He did good although it's always questionable, you know, in other words, the end result."
July 2020: People didn’t know Lincoln was a Republican ‘until I came along.’ A few months into his presidency, Trump said of Lincoln, “Most people don’t even know he was a Republican.”
Three years later, Trump gave himself credit for preserving this arcane bit of Lincoln lore.
“People don’t remember, nobody ever heard of it until I came along, nobody remembered it for a long time, or they didn’t use it, at least.
October 2020: I’ve ‘always competed against’ Lincoln.
During a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump dropped a greatest-hits album of his Lincoln commentary with a new bonus track.
“You know we’re the party of Abraham Lincoln, a lot of people don’t know that,” Trump said. “The great Abraham Lincoln, a man that I’ve always competed against. I said, ‘I can be more presidential than any president ever, except for the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln when he’s wearing the hat.’”
July 2021: A Washington-Lincoln ticket would struggle to ‘beat me.’ Shortly after losing the 2020, election, Trump talked to Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker for their book I Alone Can Fix It.
A complete timeline of this shockingly active (and bizarre) rivalry.
Published in New York Magazine The Intelligencer by Margaret Hartmann.
Donald Trump has serious beef with every living former president. While the Bidens, Bushes, Clintons, and Obamas have made a big show of their post–White House chumminess, Trump’s vicious smears and elaborate conspiracy theories against his predecessors have left him excluded from the ex-presidents club.
This isn’t all that surprising; Trump’s not one to put aside a good vendetta for the sake of national unity. What is remarkable, though, is that throughout his presidency, Trump has also been actively feuding with Abraham Lincoln.
This rivalry is obviously one-sided, as the 16th president has been dead for 161 years and is better than Trump by just about every measure. That actually seems to be the root of it: In Trump’s mind, Lincoln remains the one obvious exception to his claims of being the greatest president of all time.
I’ve always said I can be more presidential than any president in history,” Trump said in 2019. “Except for Honest Abe Lincoln when he’s wearing the hat.”
Trump talks about Lincoln like he’s a Republican frenemy who might dare to challenge him in the next election, not a long-dead, widely revered historical figure. Though the current president often makes a show of paying homage to “Honest Abe,” Trump regularly lashes out at him too. Trump has disparaged Lincoln’s (nonexistent) poll numbers, downplayed the importance of the 13th Amendment, and blasted his predecessor for not using Art of the Deal tactics to prevent the Civil War.
Here’s a guide to all of Trump’s bizarre attempts to wrap himself in Lincoln’s glory while subtly taking down the “Great Unifier.”
This rivalry is obviously one-sided, as the 16th president has been dead for 161 years and is better than Trump by just about every measure. That actually seems to be the root of it: In Trump’s mind, Lincoln remains the one obvious exception to his claims of being the greatest president of all time.
I’ve always said I can be more presidential than any president in history,” Trump said in 2019. “Except for Honest Abe Lincoln when he’s wearing the hat.”
Trump talks about Lincoln like he’s a Republican frenemy who might dare to challenge him in the next election, not a long-dead, widely revered historical figure. Though the current president often makes a show of paying homage to “Honest Abe,” Trump regularly lashes out at him too. Trump has disparaged Lincoln’s (nonexistent) poll numbers, downplayed the importance of the 13th Amendment, and blasted his predecessor for not using Art of the Deal tactics to prevent the Civil War.
Here’s a guide to all of Trump’s bizarre attempts to wrap himself in Lincoln’s glory while subtly taking down the “Great Unifier.”
I’ll ‘heal the divisions’ like Lincoln … starting by suing my accusers.
During a 2016, speech at what he called the “hallowed ground” of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, then-candidate Trump claimed that, if elected, he would look to unify the nation like the 16th president.
“President Lincoln served at a time of division like we’ve never seen before,” he said. “It is my hope that we can look to his example to heal the divisions we are living through right now. We are a very divided nation.”
Then, just like Honest Abe, Trump slammed the “totally rigged” political system, attacked the media for misreporting his crowd size, and said of his many sexual-assault accusers, “All of these liars will be sued after the election is over.”
January 2017: During a 2016, speech at what he called the “hallowed ground” of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, then-candidate Trump claimed that, if elected, he would look to unify the nation like the 16th president.
“President Lincoln served at a time of division like we’ve never seen before,” he said. “It is my hope that we can look to his example to heal the divisions we are living through right now. We are a very divided nation.”
Then, just like Honest Abe, Trump slammed the “totally rigged” political system, attacked the media for misreporting his crowd size, and said of his many sexual-assault accusers, “All of these liars will be sued after the election is over.”
‘I don’t know if it’s ever been done before.’
The night before his first inauguration, Trump held a concert at the Lincoln Memorial. He gave Abe a vigorous salute, then started bragging about his own historic achievements.
“This started out tonight being a small little concert, and then we had the idea, Maybe we will do it in front of the Lincoln Memorial,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s ever been done before, but if it has, very seldom. And the people came by the thousands and thousands.”
There have actually been a good number of historic musical performances at the national monument. But sure, no other president has serenaded Abe with the Rolling Stones’ “Heart of Stone.”
‘I can be more presidential than any president’ … except Lincoln.
In the summer of 2018, Trump started referring to a “new poll” that had him “over 90 percent,” making him “the most popular Republican in history of the Party.”
During a trip to the U.K., the president bragged about this to The Sun, saying, “You know, a poll just came out that I am the most popular person in the history of the Republican Party. Beating Lincoln. I beat our Honest Abe.”
A few weeks later, even Trump seemed doubtful — with good reason. There were no polls in the 1860s, and we never got to the bottom of what survey he was referencing.
September 2018: The Gettysburg Address was initially ‘ridiculed,’ just like ‘the weave.’
Trump noted, accurately, that some people panned Lincoln’s famous speech when he was alive. Trump suggested that someday people would recognize his oratory genius too.
“You know when Abraham Lincoln made the Gettysburg Address speech, the great speech, did you know he was ridiculed?” Trump said at a Montana rally. “Fifty years after his death, they said it may have been the greatest speech ever made in America … I have a feeling that’s going to happen with us. In different ways, that’s going to happen with us.”
October 2019: Lincoln in ‘the hat’ is ‘a tough one to beat.’
“I’ve always said I could be more presidential than any president in history. Except for Honest Abe Lincoln when he’s wearing the hat,” Trump said at a rally in Texas. “That’s tough. That’s a tough one to beat.”
May 2020: ‘I believe I am treated worse’ than Lincoln.
Lincoln is, famously, one of the few U.S. presidents who was killed in office. Yet, Trump has asserted on numerous occasions that he thinks he has it even worse.
Donald Trump made this claim on Twitter in 2019, citing Newt Gingrich. (Trump wasn’t alone in likening himself to Lincoln. Gingrich compared Trump to the “Great Emancipator” in his 2017 book, and Dinesh D’Souza made a whole movie about Trump’s ostensibly Lincoln-y qualities.)
The following year, Trump elaborated on this point during a socially distanced Fox (Fake❗)News interview at the Lincoln Memorial.
“I am greeted with a hostile press, the likes of which no president has ever seen. The closest would be that gentleman right up there,” Trump said, pointing to the marble statue of Lincoln behind him.
“They always said, ‘Lincoln, nobody got treated worse than Lincoln,’” Trump continued. “I believe I am treated worse.”
June 2020: ‘I’ve done more for the Black community than any president,’ except (possibly) Lincoln.
Up to this point, Trump’s comparisons to Lincoln were largely silly and subjective. Then, in June 2020, he got into a one-sided fight with Abe over which of them had done more for Black Americans.
Initially, Trump exempted Lincoln from comments suggesting his policies, such as the First Step Act, were more significant than enforcing Brown v. Board of Education or passing the Civil Rights Act.
But, ultimately, he landed at Trump’s contributions to the Black community: great; Lincoln’s: “questionable.”
“So I think I’ve done more for the Black community than any other president, and let’s take a pass on Abraham Lincoln ’cause he did good, although it’s always questionable,” he told Fox News’ Harris Faulkner. “You know, in other words, the end result.”
Trump noted, accurately, that some people panned Lincoln’s famous speech when he was alive. Trump suggested that someday people would recognize his oratory genius too.
“You know when Abraham Lincoln made the Gettysburg Address speech, the great speech, did you know he was ridiculed?” Trump said at a Montana rally. “Fifty years after his death, they said it may have been the greatest speech ever made in America … I have a feeling that’s going to happen with us. In different ways, that’s going to happen with us.”
October 2019: Lincoln in ‘the hat’ is ‘a tough one to beat.’
“I’ve always said I could be more presidential than any president in history. Except for Honest Abe Lincoln when he’s wearing the hat,” Trump said at a rally in Texas. “That’s tough. That’s a tough one to beat.”
May 2020: ‘I believe I am treated worse’ than Lincoln.
Lincoln is, famously, one of the few U.S. presidents who was killed in office. Yet, Trump has asserted on numerous occasions that he thinks he has it even worse.
Donald Trump made this claim on Twitter in 2019, citing Newt Gingrich. (Trump wasn’t alone in likening himself to Lincoln. Gingrich compared Trump to the “Great Emancipator” in his 2017 book, and Dinesh D’Souza made a whole movie about Trump’s ostensibly Lincoln-y qualities.)
The following year, Trump elaborated on this point during a socially distanced Fox (Fake❗)News interview at the Lincoln Memorial.
“I am greeted with a hostile press, the likes of which no president has ever seen. The closest would be that gentleman right up there,” Trump said, pointing to the marble statue of Lincoln behind him.
“They always said, ‘Lincoln, nobody got treated worse than Lincoln,’” Trump continued. “I believe I am treated worse.”
June 2020: ‘I’ve done more for the Black community than any president,’ except (possibly) Lincoln.
Up to this point, Trump’s comparisons to Lincoln were largely silly and subjective. Then, in June 2020, he got into a one-sided fight with Abe over which of them had done more for Black Americans.
Initially, Trump exempted Lincoln from comments suggesting his policies, such as the First Step Act, were more significant than enforcing Brown v. Board of Education or passing the Civil Rights Act.
But, ultimately, he landed at Trump’s contributions to the Black community: great; Lincoln’s: “questionable.”
“So I think I’ve done more for the Black community than any other president, and let’s take a pass on Abraham Lincoln ’cause he did good, although it’s always questionable,” he told Fox News’ Harris Faulkner. “You know, in other words, the end result.”
Faulkner, who is Black, pushed back, noting, “Well, we are free, Mr. President. He did pretty well.”
Trump replied, “But we are free. You understand what I mean. So I’m gonna take a pass on Abe — Honest Abe, as we call him.”
Trump, who repeatedly defended the Confederacy, says he's done more for black community than any president with possible exception of Abraham Lincoln but then adds of Lincoln: "He did good although it's always questionable, you know, in other words, the end result."
July 2020: People didn’t know Lincoln was a Republican ‘until I came along.’ A few months into his presidency, Trump said of Lincoln, “Most people don’t even know he was a Republican.”
Three years later, Trump gave himself credit for preserving this arcane bit of Lincoln lore.
“People don’t remember, nobody ever heard of it until I came along, nobody remembered it for a long time, or they didn’t use it, at least.
I use it all the time: Abraham Lincoln was a Republican,” Trump said in July 2020. “You know, you say that and people say, ‘I didn’t know that,’ but he was Republican. So we’re doing a great job.”
October 2020: I’ve ‘always competed against’ Lincoln.
During a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump dropped a greatest-hits album of his Lincoln commentary with a new bonus track.
“You know we’re the party of Abraham Lincoln, a lot of people don’t know that,” Trump said. “The great Abraham Lincoln, a man that I’ve always competed against. I said, ‘I can be more presidential than any president ever, except for the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln when he’s wearing the hat.’”
July 2021: A Washington-Lincoln ticket would struggle to ‘beat me.’ Shortly after losing the 2020, election, Trump talked to Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker for their book I Alone Can Fix It.
During the interview, he bragged that if it weren’t for the pandemic, even two of our greatest presidents couldn’t have defeated him.
“I think it would be hard if George Washington came back from the dead and he chose Abraham Lincoln as his vice-president, I think it would have been very hard for them to beat me,” Trump said.
December 2022: ‘This is Donald Trump, hopefully your favorite president of all time, better than Lincoln, better than Washington.’
This is how Trump kicked off a video announcing he was dropping a collection of NFT trading cards.
January 2024: Lincoln ‘could have negotiated’ to prevent the Civil War. In his most pointed Lincoln criticism to date, Trump suggested at an Iowa rally that if Abe were truly a great president, there wouldn’t have been a Civil War.
“So many mistakes were made” ahead of the war, Trump said. “See, there was something I think could have been negotiated, to be honest with you. I think you could have negotiated that. All the people died. So many people died.”
Did Lincoln willfully ignore the lessons of The Art of the Deal because he wanted to secure his legacy❓ Well, Trump insinuates, you decide❗
“Abraham Lincoln, of course, if he negotiated it, you probably wouldn’t even know who Abraham Lincoln was,” Trump said. “He would’ve been president, but he would’ve been president, and he would have been — he wouldn’t have been the Abraham Lincoln.”
April 2024: ‘Never fight uphill, me boys.’
During a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump called Gettysburg, the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, “vicious and horrible” yet “beautiful in so many ways.” 🙄
Then he lamented that Confederate General Robert E. Lee is “no longer in favor” and recalled his famous directive “Never fight uphill, me boys” — which Lee never said.
This wasn’t directly about Lincoln, but it does feel like Trump was trying to one-up the former president by including a (IMO, cheap) pirate impression in his Gettysburg Address.
“I think it would be hard if George Washington came back from the dead and he chose Abraham Lincoln as his vice-president, I think it would have been very hard for them to beat me,” Trump said.
December 2022: ‘This is Donald Trump, hopefully your favorite president of all time, better than Lincoln, better than Washington.’
This is how Trump kicked off a video announcing he was dropping a collection of NFT trading cards.
January 2024: Lincoln ‘could have negotiated’ to prevent the Civil War. In his most pointed Lincoln criticism to date, Trump suggested at an Iowa rally that if Abe were truly a great president, there wouldn’t have been a Civil War.
“So many mistakes were made” ahead of the war, Trump said. “See, there was something I think could have been negotiated, to be honest with you. I think you could have negotiated that. All the people died. So many people died.”
Did Lincoln willfully ignore the lessons of The Art of the Deal because he wanted to secure his legacy❓ Well, Trump insinuates, you decide❗
“Abraham Lincoln, of course, if he negotiated it, you probably wouldn’t even know who Abraham Lincoln was,” Trump said. “He would’ve been president, but he would’ve been president, and he would have been — he wouldn’t have been the Abraham Lincoln.”
April 2024: ‘Never fight uphill, me boys.’
During a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump called Gettysburg, the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, “vicious and horrible” yet “beautiful in so many ways.” 🙄
Then he lamented that Confederate General Robert E. Lee is “no longer in favor” and recalled his famous directive “Never fight uphill, me boys” — which Lee never said.
This wasn’t directly about Lincoln, but it does feel like Trump was trying to one-up the former president by including a (IMO, cheap) pirate impression in his Gettysburg Address.
October 2024: I’m ‘tougher on the border’ than Lincoln.
While bragging about receiving the endorsement of a Border Patrol union at a North Carolina rally, Trump claimed a group official told him he’s the “greatest president there’s ever been,” even better than Washington or Lincoln.
“He said I’m tougher on the border than Abraham Lincoln, right, than Honest Abe,” Trump added.
October 2025: A gaudy marble bathroom is ‘appropriate for the time of Abraham Lincoln.’
Trump gutted the White House’s Lincoln Bathroom, then claimed the floor-to-ceiling marble was accurate to the 1860s. But the real Lincoln used an outhouse before he came to Washington. And he was furious when his wife overspent on White House renovations, saying she’d wasted money on “flub dubs for this damned old house.”
Trump’s AI seance with Abe: Trump posts a lot of weird AI-generated art on Truth Social (the image of him escorting a swole, handcuffed alien around a military base comes to mind).
While bragging about receiving the endorsement of a Border Patrol union at a North Carolina rally, Trump claimed a group official told him he’s the “greatest president there’s ever been,” even better than Washington or Lincoln.
“He said I’m tougher on the border than Abraham Lincoln, right, than Honest Abe,” Trump added.
October 2025: A gaudy marble bathroom is ‘appropriate for the time of Abraham Lincoln.’
Trump gutted the White House’s Lincoln Bathroom, then claimed the floor-to-ceiling marble was accurate to the 1860s. But the real Lincoln used an outhouse before he came to Washington. And he was furious when his wife overspent on White House renovations, saying she’d wasted money on “flub dubs for this damned old house.”
Trump’s AI seance with Abe: Trump posts a lot of weird AI-generated art on Truth Social (the image of him escorting a swole, handcuffed alien around a military base comes to mind).
During the summer, he repeatedly shared this shot of himself hanging with (imaginary) rivals Washington and Lincoln with no commentary.
September 2026: ‘Donald J. Trump is six times more popular than Abraham Lincoln.’ In more highly dubious polling news, Trump claimed he is now more popular than “any other President”. But, it turns out Trump misunderstood a report from CNN’s Harry Enten that said when Republicans were asked which president they most admire, 53 percent answered Trump, 18 percent said Ronald Reagan, and 8 percent said Lincoln. Trump did, actually, come out ahead of Honest Abe, but that does not mean he’s “six times more popular” than “any other president.”
September 2026: ‘Donald J. Trump is six times more popular than Abraham Lincoln.’ In more highly dubious polling news, Trump claimed he is now more popular than “any other President”. But, it turns out Trump misunderstood a report from CNN’s Harry Enten that said when Republicans were asked which president they most admire, 53 percent answered Trump, 18 percent said Ronald Reagan, and 8 percent said Lincoln. Trump did, actually, come out ahead of Honest Abe, but that does not mean he’s “six times more popular” than “any other president.”
In the media’s defense, Trump has given us some reason to think his perspective on Honest Abe is a tad odd.
Labels: Harris Faulkner, Margaret Hartmann, New York Magazine Intelligencer, Robert E. Lee
posted by Juliana L'Heureux | 8:09 AM
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