Most Events *in* the Lincoln Memorial Are Banned. Trump Got an Exception.

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/04/us/politics/trump-lincoln-memorial.html



Citing the “extraordinary crisis” of the coronavirus, the interior secretary relaxed the rules so the president could hold a Fox News interview in one of the nation’s most hallowed spaces.

By Katie Rogers
May 4, 2020

WASHINGTON — As President Trump’s aides ran down the list of possible backdrops for his latest Fox News event, they eventually landed on their favorite: the Lincoln Memorial, an iconic tribute to an American life, and one of Mr. Trump’s preferred places to add a prime-time touch of drama to his presidency.

There was just one catch: While Mr. Trump and many other presidents have hosted inauguration concerts and gatherings on the memorial’s steps, any event meant to draw an audience inside the interior near Daniel Chester French’s sculpture of a seated Lincoln is prohibited. The area beginning with the marble staircase where the columns start constitutes a boundary protected by federal law.

So on Sunday, when the president sat down with two Fox News anchors at Lincoln’s marbled feet during a coronavirus-focused virtual “town hall,” it was because a directive issued by David Bernhardt, the secretary of the interior, had allowed them to do so.

Mr. Bernhardt, a former oil lobbyist whose Senate nomination was contested by Democrats who pointed to multiple accusations of conflicts of interest and ethical violations, ordered the memorial temporarily closed for the event, citing the coronavirus.

</snip>

[Chainfire]

1. All Americans are equal

but some are more equal than others.

[raging moderate]

2. so, did they show Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural Address?

I remember that it is printed on the side wall of the Lincoln Memorial.

It is magnificent.

I chicken-dare Trump to read it aloud to the nation.

Not that he would agree with it.

[pwb]

3. Fuck him and fox

[PA Democrat]

4. It was a campaign ad provided free of charge by the propaganda arm of his campaign- Fox News.

[empedocles]

5. My opinion was that trump looked petty and asinine in the Memorial. Haven't seen other reactions.

[FakeNoose]

6. The rules never apply to Chump

... that's how his mind works.

We really need to be rid of him for good. Let him hop on a plane and fly off to Russia.
I don't care. I just want him out of here!

[dalton99a]

7. Low-life trash

https://democraticunderground.com/100213392872

[crickets]

9. That sums up my reaction quite well. nt

[malaise]

11. Precisely

Turns out that it was a very bad decision - the diminished lil tiny whiny looked Lilliputian. He's a really bad actor and an even worse producer.
Did he really think he could overshadow Lincoln?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

8. K&R

[spanone]

10. So a former oil lobbyist allowed the jackass to defile the Lincoln Memorial...Of course he did.

It was a campaign event.