To the editor:, Doug Opalski’s letter headlined “What would Lincoln think of Trump?” has considerable sets of misinformation, and if we were to parallel Abraham Lincoln and the country under Donald Trump, we may have an enlightening comparison., While it is lovely to have a seat in which you can look back with hindsight and make exorbitant claims, I’d only hope that you’d get it right., First, if you had reviewed your history, Lincoln had it rough and was quite disliked early in his presidency. So much so that the secession of the Confederacy was caused by Lincoln being elected, after a very lopsided “Blue vs. Red”-type victory. I doubt the U.S. will split under Trump., Note tha Lincoln’s inauguration speech actually assured the South he would not abolish slavery. Lincoln also suspended time-based processes on arrests in places that needed stability. His public then had called for harsh treatment of the South, whereas he bucked this public cry to do what he saw as right. It was only after a very bloody Battle of Gettysburg, playing second-fiddle to the main invited speaker that Lincoln started to be accepted as the Great Unifier – three years into his presidency., So here we have an early Lincoln who divided the country enough to have war, bucked the Supreme Court, and was quite unliked., You also labeled Richard Nixon as a poor president. If you were to review Nixon from an international standpoint, you may find he was one who was greatly respected and in fact was instrumental in your access to Chinese goods. In at least one published list, Nixon ranked eighth above Barack Obama’s 10th review of modern presidents. Nixon oversaw the last days of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and ended the military draft, among others. I’ll spare the readers review on Herbert Hoover., The Constitution established the Electoral College, and the Constitution also established the Supreme Court. I would raise the actions of the Constitution above that of the ruling of the Supreme Court (noting that there are prescribed methods to amend the Constitution). If the Russians did affect the election, note that the Electoral College then would methods to override such a miscarriage and thus have proven its design, which in fact was given as the reason for the Electoral College., With all the protests going on these days, I’d think that maybe more and more of the people are unifying in protest instead of being divided?, Last, it is misinformation to put the “fool the public” quote to Lincoln, as anyone could look this up and see that Lincoln did not say this in any attributed speech. I myself used Wikipedia to double-check my facts posted in my letter., As the Great Unifier had it worse during his first 100 days, my suggestions are twofold: (1) Let’s see where Trump takes us; (2) Get your facts correct., Jim Belsky, South Brunswick
