Imagine the shock, dismay and disgust Abraham Lincoln might 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. I had the high privilege of working for Idaho’s distinguished GOP U.S. Sen. Len Jordan in the early 1970s. He was fiscally conservative, but a champion of human rights and dignity.
Like many of his Republican counterparts, Jordan voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He opposed two southern segregationists — Harrold Carswell and Clement Haynsworth — who President Richard Nixon tried to appoint to the U.S. Supreme Court. Jordan would be repulsed by the current leadership of his beloved party, both at the federal and Idaho level.
Much of the moral decline of the GOP resulted from Nixon’s “southern strategy” that resulted in turning southern-state segregationist Democrats into southern-state Republican segregationists. Most remain so to this very day, although their numbers are being slowly whittled away by a new breed of Democrats who are actually standard bearers for Abe Lincoln’s legacy.
Unfortunately, Idaho’s top GOP elected officials — the governor and members of our congressional delegation — have bought into the crumbling anti-civil rights and anti-immigrant playbook of the segregationists. They have betrayed the legacy of Lincoln and Jordan, 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.
U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, U.S. Rep. Russ Fulcher and Attorney General Raúl Labrador were all slated to share the limelight with this bona fide 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 Mike Simpson, 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.
Trump had wanted Gaetz to be his attorney general, but it was not to be. It must have been a real downer for Trump because the two have so much in common when it comes to sexual mistreatment of the female gender. Since the 1970s, at least 28 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct. Trump was found liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll in May 2023.
The details of Trump’s longtime friendship with serial abuser Jeffrey Epstein are just coming out, despite his administration’s dogged efforts to keep them under wraps. Our congressional delegation fought against release of the Epstein files until a few GOP members of the House forced a vote, but there is still significant pushback against releasing what are likely the most incriminating files.
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.