16-04-2025
Don't dishonor the legacies of Lincoln and Reagan by lumping them in with Trump
When I was running for Congress last year in the GOP primary in Ohio's 2nd District, I realized that almost every county Republican Party holds an annual "Lincoln Dinner" to honor our 16th president. Some counties have amended the title to the "Lincoln-Reagan Dinner" to also honor President Ronald Reagan. But the Republican Party in my home, Hamilton County, has taken it a step further. It has changed the name of this event to the 'Lincoln-Reagan-Trump Dinner.'
My question is: What does Donald Trump have in common with Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan?
After 750,000 had died in the Civil War, which cost over $150 billion in today's dollars, President Lincoln had every reason to punish the South for causing this bloody conflict. Yet in his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865, he did not refer to the Confederacy as the enemy but stated, "With malice toward none, with charity for all."
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What a contrast with President Trump, who promised his supporters in the 2024 campaign that "I will be your retribution." And he's kept this promise. Within hours of taking the oath of office in January, he cut off security details for 51 former intelligence officials who displeased him, including former National Security Advisor John Bolton and Trump's Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo − despite threats against their lives from Iran − as well as Dr. Anthony Fauci, who was under threat for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump said he wouldn't feel responsible if anything happened to these men.
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Trump has also fired dozens of Justice Department prosecutors who worked on cases against him and even those who prosecuted the rioters who attacked the Capitol on January 6. Recently, Trump denied security clearances for law firms that filed actions against him, which, in effect, deprives them of doing any legal work involving the government.
Let's talk about Ronald Reagan, a champion for freedom, who stood up to dictators in support of free nations around the world, exemplified by his famous declaration to the Soviet rulers at the Berlin Wall in 1987 to "tear down this wall." His words led to the fall of Communist rule in East Germany and throughout Eastern Europe and, ultimately, to the demise of the Soviet Union.
How different from President Trump's admiration of dictators like Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, who used death squads to kill up to 30,000 of his people and was recently arrested by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. Then there is Trump's lavish praise of Vladimir Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine has resulted in one million casualties on both sides. He has also heaped affection on North Korean strongman Kim Jong-un, where 3.5 million have starved to death under the reign of Kim and his father. Yet, according to Trump, "Chairman Kim has a great and beautiful vision for his country.'
There is no record of Lincoln or Reagan engaging in name-calling. How would they feel to be joined with a man who calls the press "the enemy of the people," who described a political opponent as "one of the dumbest … men in Congress," and uses words like "scum" and "radical left wack-job" to describe his opponents?
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I have great respect for Chairman Russell Mock and the leaders of the Republican Party here in Cincinnati, but they know better. They know that exacting revenge, blacklisting attorneys and using ugly language is not something our party or our country stands for. Perhaps it's trite to bring up the phrase, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing," but I think it applies here.
If our party wants to hold a dinner to honor Donald Trump, that's fine. But don't dishonor the legacies of great leaders like Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan by lumping them with such a dishonorable figure as our current president.
Phil Heimlich is a former Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor who has served as a Republican on Cincinnati City Council and the Hamilton County Commission. During the 2020 campaign, he helped lead Operation Grant, the Ohio affiliate of Republican Voters Against Trump. In 2024, he ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for Congress in Ohio's 2nd District. His podcast, The Radical Middle, can be seen on Facebook, X (@philheimlich), Instagram and Youtube.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Calling it the Lincoln-Regan-Trump Dinner is an insult to history
