Donald Trump goes off the Gettysburg deep end
Donald J. Trump has been planting seeds that his nomination acceptance speech would take place at the White House. While the Hatch Act might not prevent him from doing so, no White House staffer or others could help set it up. Now, we have word that Trump has narrowed the list of potential places to two.
Trump tweeted: “We have narrowed the Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech, to be delivered on the final night of the Convention (Thursday), to two locations – The Great Battlefield of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the White House, Washington, D.C. We will announce the decision soon!”
The thought of him being at the hallowed grounds of Gettysburg to discuss his acceptance led to some immediate responses, including from Walter Shaub: “This will be the second time the confederacy tries to take Gettysburg. May it go as badly for you as it did the first time.”
Perhaps Trump and his team will use the start of the speech that the “little known” Republican, Abraham Lincoln, gave: “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a nation, embroiled in a Great Depression, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure with me in the White House.”
This man is a disaster and his latest proposal is a disgrace. These are not places where any partisan speeches should be made. Maybe Donald Trump can go visit Mount Rushmore and give his speech from the base of a place his face will never grace.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.