Despite facing 91 felony counts in four different jurisdictions and skipping out on the Republican Party presidential debates, Donald Trump remains the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Concerns surrounding Trump’s possible re-election include his using the presidency to pardon himself, pulling the U.S. out of climate agreements, enlisting the Justice Department to attack political opponents, increasing restrictions on abortion services, and favoring authoritarians over democracies in foreign affairs, to name just a very few. All in all, bad news. Which is why The New Republic is hosting the “Stop Trump Summit” at Cooper Union’s Great Hall, on Wednesday, October 11.
The Summit will be the next in a long and storied line of political events held at the Great Hall. Throughout history, the venue has featured such speakers as Frederick Douglass, Theodore Roosevelt, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mark Twain, and, in more recent times, Henry Kissinger, Hugo Chávez, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama, to name just a few.
“Let us, to the end, dare to do our duty.”
Abraham Lincoln catapulted the Great Hall to national fame with a seminal address in February of 1860, a year prior to the start of the Civil War. The soon-to-be Republican presidential candidate addressed an audience of over 1,500 riveted listeners in an incisive speech examining Southern demands for the expansion of slavery. Lincoln investigated the Constitution’s and the Founding Fathers’ stances in regard to this “peculiar institution” with thoughtful consideration. His words demonstrated a commitment to fact, moral responsibility, and judicious logic — values that stand in stark contrast to those of today’s Republican leaders. He pushed his audience to condemn the practice of slavery: “Let us stand by our duty, fearlessly and effectively…. Right makes might…. Let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.”
Spoken in a time of massive political strife, Lincoln’s message still resonates today. A far cry from “Honest Abe,” Trump and his several counts of Conspiracy to Defraud the United States and alleged violations of the Espionage Act pose a serious threat to the future of American politics. The “Stop Trump Summit” will provide a crucial platform for bipartisan thinkers to do their duty in working together toward a common goal: to prevent a man who faces felony counts that include election interference and conspiracy from ever again taking public office.
Speakers at the upcoming Summit will include some of the most active figures in American politics today, including former Trump loyalist Michael Cohen and Trump’s niece Mary L. Trump. Other featured guests will include George Conway, of CNN, and Don Lemon, of CNN’s days gone by; the Lincoln Project’s Stuart Stevens; Al Sharpton, of the National Action Network; Maryland congressman Jamie Raskin; and Robert De Niro, who is just famous. ❖
Ruthie Kornblatt-Stier hails from the woods of western Massachusetts and works in New York City covering topics ranging from women’s issues to the climate crisis to entrepreneurs. Her work has appeared in Worth magazine, Techonomy, and Propagule.
The post Following in the Footsteps of Honest Abe: Speaking the Truth About Trump appeared first on The Village Voice.
0 Commentaires