Kamala Harris is making an unusual pilgrimage today -- to the birthplace of the GOP

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NPR

October 3, 2024 5:00 AM ET


The town known as the birthplace of the Republican Party is an unlikely campaign stop for a Democratic presidential candidate.

But on Thursday, Vice President Harris will be holding an event in Ripon, Wisc. — home to the Little White Schoolhouse, where an 1854 meeting led to the formation of the Republican Party.

Harris will be joined in Ripon by former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, who endorsed her last month. Harris’ campaign says they will speak about the history of the GOP and appeal to Republicans and independent voters disillusioned with her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump.

"I will always put country above party, and I will be a president for all Americans,” Harris said at a rally in Charlotte, N.C., last month, noting that more than 200 prominent Republicans had backed her campaign. Cheney and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, are staunch conservatives who have said they will vote for Harris because they believe former President Donald Trump poses a danger to American democracy.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2024/10/02/nx-s1-5137349/kamala-harris-liz-cheney-wisconsin-little-white-schoolhouse

[CurtEastPoint]

1. YIKES

[iemanja]

3. It was formed for the purpose of stopping the spread of slavery into the new territories

not evil. The party has changed greatly over the years but calling its foundation evil doesn't comport with historical fact, unless you're writing from the position of a 19th century planter/slaveholder.

[CurtEastPoint]

7. Didn't know all that. Just the house where the Repube party was born is enough to alarm me.

[iemanja]

8. It was called the Free Soil movement

It wasn’t about abolition per se but making it so that white people could access land in areas that wouldn’t be surrounded by slaveholders. The party grew very quickly until Lincoln was elected Pres just a few years later. He only turned to abolitionism during the Civil War, in part due to the persuasion of Frederick Douglass.

[CurtEastPoint]

9. Thank you for sharing

[paleotn]

2. Thought it was formed in Preston Blair's house.

What we know today as the Blair House in DC. He did exaggerate as many politicians do. Different Republican Party in those days. A much larger tent Free soilers, abolitionists, know nothings and many others. Things weren’t quite as clear cut as today.

[iemanja]

4. I'm sure it was founded in the Midwest

after Kansas-Nebraska.

[The Wandering Harper]

5. still hard to wrap my head around Dick Cheney giving a drop about American democracy

unless SCOTUS handing the presidency to their guy is part of his vision of it

[ancianita]

6. Harris and Cheney were enthusiastically received, and I admired how their respect for each other stood out.

This rally was a high quality view of what a democratic coalition looks like. I don't think it will get media attention but the Internet media tend to outrun msm, so it should get more exposure than just to in-house Democrats.

[Tanuki]

10. I'm pretty sure that Trump has never even heard

of Ripon, WI, or the Ripon Society, or the Ripon Forum.