This piece was published before I learned of today’s assassination attempt. I am thankful Donald Trump is safe and okay in the wake of the shooting incident in Butler, Pennsylvania, and hope this serves to remind everyone that our nation’s politics are in a volatile state, but nothing warrants the use of violence under any circumstance. I wish the former president a rapid recovery and quick return to the campaign trail. ~mw
By Mike Weland
Donald J. Trump and the MAGA movement have held de facto ownership of the Republican Party for a few years, and on July 8, the Republican National Committee made it quasi-official, passing off a typical Trump rally script as the 2024 Republican Party platform, to be formally adopted at the Republican National Convention on Monday in Milwaukee. How far the Party of Lincoln has fallen.
Consider the differences.
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
“Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
“But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
“It is rather for us, the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us that, from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here, gave the last full measure of devotion that we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth,”
Abraham Lincoln said those words on the bloody battlefield at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on November 19, 1863. He was ridiculed at the time, laughed at for such a meager speech. But it didn’t take long for those of discernment to realize how great the mind of the man who crafted those words. Words upon which a strong and meaningful political party could rise to greatness.
On March 4, 1865, the Civil War was winding down. The nation was still bleeding. On April 9, that terrible war ended. On April 12, Abraham Lincoln’s life was ended.
“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations,” Lincoln proclaimed in his second inaugural address March 4. Words that soar, inspire, uplift. Words that evoke our better angels.
Fast forward to July 8, 2024. Just 160 years later, the party he helped found sees fit to offer mean words in a shrill compendium of minor grievances built on a foundation of Trump ‘s incessant “Chicken Little” lies and hyperbole.
” … now we are a Nation in SERIOUS DECLINE. Our future, our identity, and our very way of life are under threat like never before. Today we must once again call upon the same American Spirit that led us to prevail through every challenge of the past if we are going to lead our Nation to a brighter future,” reads the 2024 GOP platform. “In 2016, President Donald J. Trump was elected as an unapologetic Champion of the American People. He reignited the American Spirit and called on us to renew our National Pride. His Policies spurred Historic Economic Growth, Job Creation, and a Resurgence of American Manufacturing. President Trump and the Republican Party led America out of the pessimism induced by decades of failed leadership, showing us that the American People want Greatness for our Country again. Yet after nearly four years of the Biden administration, America is now rocked by Raging Inflation, Open Borders, Rampant Crime, Attacks on our Children, and Global Conflict, Chaos, and Instability.”
Petty, vindictive. Stroking one citizen’s massive ego as if he were already our dearly beloved dictator. Laying blame but offering no solutions. Fostering enmity rather than amity, division rather than unity.
For those not ensnared in the cult of Trump, it is easy to recognize it for what it is … a whole lot of nothing, much of it in uppercase to lend weight to otherwise vacuous words.
America is now and long will be rocked by the ten years of hate, hypocrisy, lies and blatantly rude and criminal behavior of Donald J. Trump, a man born with every opportunity but cursed with a gift for squandering all and blaming everyone but himself.
He has nothing to give, nothing to offer except his ability to be bought. His vision isn’t of a Christian Nation that’s abortion free, but of a nation of people rising daily to place hand on heart and pledge allegiance to Trump. To all who don’t, retribution.
He is asking we, the people, to give him sanction, validation. To hand him the reins of power as nothing more than balm for his ego.
And it appears very likely we citizens could be foolish enough to do just that. Again. He won’t need a third chance to make the sky fall.
So now that an actual assassination attempt was just done on Trump today, and from your hateful opinion letter here, I’ll bet it just broke your cold little heart that the shooter was NOT successful and Trump is still alive. Very Sad article from you.
Nothing at all hateful in this opinion piece I’ve written or any other, Ella Belle, just my opinion, expressed as clearly and as logically as I am able. If you have a logical argument with which to refute it, perhaps you can change my mind or convince other readers that I am wrong and Donald Trump is an ideal candidate … it’s called debate, discussion, attempting to arrive at a conclusion by the application of reason. My cold little heart has no say in the discussion.
Mike, I’m guessing that you are off of your medication……….
Nope, I’m right on schedule, Ronald. But what makes you say that? Using logic and reason, what would cause you to question my prescription status?
The lack of shock, horror, remorse, or wishes for Trump’s recovery in your reply to Ms. Belle, speaks volumes and tells me and a candid 9B.News readership all we need to know.
Trump’s victory in November is now completely assured.
I published this on Facebook two hours ago, Eric.
“I am thankful Donald Trump is safe and okay in the wake of the shooting incident in Butler, Pennsylvania, and hope this serves to remind everyone that our nation’s politics are in a volatile state, but nothing warrants the use of violence under any circumstance. I wish the former president a rapid recovery and quick return to the campaign trail. ~ Mike Weland”
I’m not on Facebook, but was able to confirm the presence of your post, exactly as it appears above. Though you might have chosen to share a bit of the tenor of it in your reply to Ms. Belle, I otherwise take back the first sentence of my first reply here. Mea culpa. We can both benefit from frequent use of the serenity prayer. May our nation not descend further into another civil war.
Thank you, Mike, for expressing your heartfelt concerns for our country should Donald J Trump once again hold the top office.
Often I think of the vast ocean of difference between the Republican president of the Civil War and the Republican president of the Jan. 6 Insurrection that may become our second civil war.
I pray daily that God will intervene so that enough voters who have eyes to see and ears to hear will get off their butts to vote in November. Nothing else will help us, thanks to a US Supreme Court heavily weighed to the Right, politically, and overrun with corruption.
Also, I appreciate Mr. Lindenbusch’s “Mea Culpa.” The measure of a man, to me, can be taken by his honesty and willingness to accept responsibility. Just wish the subject of the Editorial and letters in response to it had either one of those great characteristics, which are essential for our highest office.