I suspect Joe Biden knows how Abe Lincoln felt in 1860?

[kentuck]

A country that seemed divided beyond repair.

Hatred and racism deep within the fabric of the nation.

So set in their beliefs that they are ready to tear down the Union rather than compromise.

The Democrats, mostly in the South, hated Abe Lincoln. They were inspired by Robert E. Lee and a southern populism. They were ready to fight and die for what they believed in. They were led by Jefferson Davis and other southern demagogues. They could not see the tragedy that lay in front of them.

Now, Joe Biden faces a similar division in the country. He is not their President. That mantle belongs to another demagogue.

Abe Lincoln warned that "a house divided against itself cannot stand". Joe Biden had always been a Senator that sought compromise. Now he finds himself in a country arguably more divided than anytime since the beginning of the Civil War?

I think there probably are parallels to what Lincoln was thinking in 1860?

[FarPoint]

1. I sense that he does....

Biden also must suffer under retired pResident tRump still campaigning....tRump set this Afghanistan withdraw up and boxed us into the miserable deal, negotiated the prison release of the Taliban leader ....then tRump goes around the country now telling the brainwashed base that Biden is a miserable failure with Afghanistan...


Yeap...both Lincoln and now Biden experiencing a miserable gaslighting for the haters.

[FreepFryer]

2. "Divided beyond repair" ? Yikes. This is one step too far. You lost me, Kentuck. (Nt)

[kentuck]

3. I believe that was the way it was in 1860.

We have not yet gone so far as to start a civil war. But the similarities are there, in my opinion.

[FreepFryer]

4. I'm glad we had his Gettysburg address to see us through, as anon doomposts do the opposite.

Even the midst of civil war America wasn’t beyond repair.

[kentuck]

7. I apologize for the miscommunication.

Perhaps there could have been a better choice of words? Perhaps "it seemed like it was beyond repair" ?

[FreepFryer]

16. I appreciate you saying that. It's a post w very dark implications ...

...and a rigorously historical look provides reason for deep concern as well as a renewed sense of commitment and purpose. I think that’s what both presidents have in common, and hopefully little else.

[kentuck]

18. I agree with you about...

...a renewed sense of commitment and purpose.

Hopefully, you are correct.

[FreepFryer]

20. I don't do predictions, but that's what I heard Lincoln saying. I avoid comparing the two. nt

[kentuck]

22. I think you heard correctly.

I would not compare the two presidents to each other as much as I would compare the circumstances they both faced or are facing. I think Joe Biden is a crisis President.

[FreepFryer]

24. Agreed (Nt)

[aeromanKC]

5. If we were only so lucky as to have the South secede successfully this time.

[uponit7771]

6. "...for what they believed in..." Inslavment?!!?!

[kentuck]

8. Yes.

That is what they believed. That is why the war was fought.

[uponit7771]

9. Hmmm, like now they thought they we're fighting for something honorable back then

[kentuck]

10. I suspect they probably thought that.

Yes.

States rights and all that stuff.

Political division.

[PatSeg]

11. Interesting comparison

I think you are right. That must be how he is feeling right now. The division in the country right now is beyond anything I've seen in my lifetime. I don't envy him, but I am certainly glad we have him in the White House.

[kentuck]

12. I think history has called him, in his latter years...

to lead this country in a time of crisis. We seem to dig ourselves in deeper and deeper into a crisis, in my opinion.

[PatSeg]

15. I think so too

The right man for the job at the right time. He thought his time to lead had passed, but it turns out it just hadn't come yet.

[kentuck]

17. When I think of elder statesman...

I think of Joe Biden.

[PatSeg]

19. Me too

There isn't much that he hasn't done or seen. Hopefully, we'll have him around for as long as Jimmy Carter.

[snowybirdie]

13. I agree

Its not a shooting war. Not close. But I'm seeing real hatred and division in this country. Citizen bashing citizen. Even when they don't know each other. Last week, several southern women, all nurses, got on Facebook to virtually yell at me for promoting vaccination for medical personnel. They are young mothers, I'm a great grandmother. Why? I see family members threatening anyone who isn't A rtumper. So sad to see. Many of the people in this county are losing their collective minds. Praying for Joe Biden!

[abqtommy]

14. Yes, and we can certainly draw parallels between those who wished to maintain their

FreeDumb to own slaves and were willing to die to defend that back in 1860 and those today who demand their FreeDumb to die to defend their rights to ignore life-saving personal and societal
health guidelines.

[localroger]

21. There is a simple but important difference though

There can be no civil war today because there is no convenient geographical separation between the sides, and today people do not have a stronger tribal identity linked to their state than they do with the nation as a whole as was very common in the early 19th century. Probably the worst possible outcome would be a protracted violent insurgency with acts of terrorism, which would be treated by the authorities as a criminal rather than military matter. The worst outcome of this in turn would likely be a "temporary" abridgement of the Bill of Rights and the whole country coming to resemble the one in Terry Gilliam's movie Brazil. Which would be bad, of course, but anyone hoping for waves of blue and gray clashing on the borderland fields would be disappointed.

[DFW]

23. Today is my last day in Dallas for this year.

I'm off to Washington shortly.

Dallas is a Democratic stronghold, and I don't feel like I'm in enemy country here. More than five million Texans voted for Joe Biden last year. It wasn't enough for him to carry the state, but it was enough to scare the Texas Republicans into trying to institute voter-suppression laws. Five MILLION of us, and yet some Democrats would call for us to secede from the Union? Unless you are from California or New York, how many people voted for Joe Biden in your state?

Southern Republicans are so terrified of the results of the last election, especially after what happened in Georgia, they see voter suppression as their only hope to hold on to power. That doesn't make us a lost cause in my book, especially if southern Republicans continue to hold their Russian Roulette Rallies like the one in Cullman, Alabama. If they want to jump off the cliff like the proverbial lemmings, we will wish them a nice flight, but we won't be joining them.

[FreepFryer]

25. +1 (Nt)

[Elessar Zappa]

26. Good post!

I think Dems are in a much better position than the Republicans going forward. We’re the big tent party, the Republicans are the party of racist, white, evangelical males. There’s more of us than them. Plus COVID continues to pick them off one by one.

[Mme. Defarge]

27. Formidable!

I choose to share your well-reasoned opinion.

[DFW]

29. Thanks!

J'espère que vous restez contente avec votre choix!

[LeftInTX]

28. Same thing happened after Obama was elected

And to some extent, after Clinton was elected.