OPINION: Abraham Lincoln would be disgusted by today’s GOP standard bearers
Imagine the shock, dismay and disgust Abraham Lincoln would feel about the state and national leadership of his beloved Republican Party, if he were to return to life today. He would find a leadership of the Grand Old Party dedicated to white nationalism, nativism and moral decay. He would undoubtedly feel that GOP leaders had wrongfully seized the GOP label and attached it to a group that opposed almost everything he stood for.
Throughout his political life, Lincoln strongly supported immigrants and immigration. In his stirring Gettysburg Address on Nov. 19,1863, the Great Emancipator proclaimed that America “was dedicated to the proposition that all men were created equal.” In his annual address to Congress a month later, he called for passage of an immigration bill to promote immigration and welcome immigrants to the country as “a source of national wealth and strength.” His Republican successors carried the message of inclusion, equality and decency for a century following his assassination.
Serious moral decline of the GOP began with President Nixon’s “southern strategy” that turned southern-state segregationist Democrats into southern-state Republican segregationists. Unfortunately, Idaho’s top GOP elected officials — the Governor and members of our Congressional delegation — have bought into the anti-civil rights and anti-immigrant playbook of the segregationists. They have betrayed the legacy of Lincoln, mainly out of abject fear of displeasing King Trump. The truth is that most Idahoans, including many in the GOP, are better than this. The apostates will be weeded out in future elections.
To add insult to injury, our top GOP office holders attend Lincoln Day events on or near Lincoln’s birthday in February of each year, pretending that they are honoring that fabled leader. Actually, they dishonor Lincoln by espousing policies and beliefs diametrically opposed to those of Lincoln. Imagine Lincoln’s revulsion if he were to learn that former Congressman Matt Gaetz was keynote speaker at the Kootenai County Lincoln Day dinner on Feb. 28.
Senator Jim Risch, Rep. Russ Fulcher and Attorney General Raul Labrador shared the limelight with this bonafide sleazeball. Congressional investigators found Gaetz regularly paid women for sex, had sex with a 17-year-old girl (statutory rape in Florida) and frequently used illegal drugs. Idaho’s two Congressmen, Fulcher and Simpson, had voted in December of 2024 to block the release of the Gaetz report, but it came out anyway. Idaho’s Attorney General has claimed to be a protector of girls, but seems to have overlooked Gaetz’ deplorable misconduct.
This moral degeneration of the top leaders of our state and federal government is nauseating. The fact that it degrades the moral fiber of our people down to the grass roots is heartbreaking. The fact that our top elected leaders have abandoned the high moral principles of our founding fathers, principles that Abe Lincoln tried to perfect with his new political party, is horrific. The worst thing, however, is that the new GOP defames the Great Emancipator by attaching his name to a dinner event and a political party that repudiates practically everything he stood for. The nativist, white nationalist, morally-bankrupt officials who sully his name are Republicans in name only (RINOs).
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Jim Jones is a Vietnam combat veteran who served 8 years as Idaho Attorney General (1983-1991) and 12 years as Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court (2005-2017). He also publishes at substack.com/@jjcommontater