1. For Trump, if Gettysburg holds special meaning, it is characteristically personal—it’s where he delivered a speech on Oct. 22, 2016 conceived as his closing case, in a then-faltering bid. And what a speech it was: theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
2. As I wrote at the time, there’s a long history of presidential addresses at Gettysburg. They stress the fragility of democracy, and the potential for the people working together to lift themselves up.
Trump’s speech was mostly about his own resentments.
Trump’s speech was mostly about his own resentments.
3. FDR came to Gettysburg to warn against "those who seek to stir up political animosity or to build political advantage by the distortion of facts; those who, by declining to follow the rules of the game, seek to gain an unfair advantage."
4. Trump, for his part, warned that the electoral system is "totally rigged and broken” that Hillary Clinton should have been "precluded from running,” and denounced "the rigging of this election” and the corruption of the “dishonest mainstream media."
5. I’ve written about how Gettysburg was transformed into an emblem of the Lost Cause. In reality, it was a humiliating defeat for an army devoted to the defense of monstrous injustice.
That'd make it an interesting site for Trump’s acceptance speech.
theatlantic.com/national/archi…
That'd make it an interesting site for Trump’s acceptance speech.
theatlantic.com/national/archi…
