Trump vows to sue all women accusers
UNITED STATES: On a rise overlooking the town of Gettysburg 150 years ago Abraham Lincoln gave a speech that not only changed America’s understanding of the terrible civil war it was still fighting, but changed the nation’s relationship with its government and even its language.
Before Lincoln spoke American political speech tended towards florid and expansive; afterwards orators pursued elegance and efficiency. Lincoln’s speech consecrating a war cemetery was Shakespearean in the manner it which it soaked into the marrow of anglospheric culture.
Even people who don’t know they know the address know it, they know Lincoln’s declaration that, ‘‘government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth’’.
You might then describe Donald Trump’s decision to detail his plan for the first hundred days of his administration in a speech at Gettysburg, as possessing a certain chutzpah.
But Trump never lacked for chutzpah.
Introducing the candidate at the Eisenhower Conference Centre on the fringe of the battlefield the former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani reassured the crowd - far smaller than most Trump rallies that the Trump was not one of those guys who hung around ‘‘in their ivory towers thinking all day’’.
Lincoln began his Gettysburg address by casting back ‘‘four score and seven years ago’’ to the audacious birth of the American Republic.
Trump began his by promising to commence legal action against all the women who had accused him of sexual assault as he soon as he was in office. ‘‘Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign,’’ Trump said, to cheers. ‘‘Total fabrication. The events never happened. Never. All of these liars will be sued after the election is over.’’
Lincoln sought to unify a shattered nation, pointedly referring only to the ‘‘brave men, living and dead, who struggled here’’, rather than the armies for which they fought. Trump moaned that the election was ‘‘totally rigged’’.
Lincoln spoke just 272 perfect words, Trump blew a few thousand ad-libbed words on his intro before settling into a scripted address outlining his plan to Make America Great Again, or #MAGA, as it is known more simply in his Twitter feed.
Most of ideas were not new to anyone who had followed his campaign, though there were additions and new details.
The wall would be built and Mexico invoiced. Foreign criminals rounded up and deported. Nations he did not accept would have visa arrangements cancelled. Free trade treaties would be ditched or renegotiated, China would be labelled a currency manipulator.
His plan to block Muslim immigration has morphed into one to block immigration from terrorismprone countries where background checks cannot be reliably conducted.
To tackle corruption in Washington, DC, he would introduce term limits for members of congress - a proposal that elicited a big cheer.
Spending on measures to address climate change would end and treaties abandoned, as would any restrictions on the extraction of coal, oil and shale gas.
There would be a five-year ban on staff leaving the White House signing on as lobbyists and a systematic reduction of government regulations.
Speaking with members of the crowd after Trump’s address the issues they believed most resonated where those about immigration - the forced deportation and the construction of the wall.
Briefing journalists in a conference call the night before the speech Trump aides explained that Trump ‘‘has spoken before about Abraham Lincoln’’ and that ‘‘Abraham Lincoln is going to be an important figure in terms of Mr Trump’s vision for the Republican Party’’ the Washington Post reported.
‘‘Gettysburg was the moment where the war turned,’’ the aide said.
‘‘It was a symbol of sacrifice. It’s obviously a very fitting location.’’
- Fairfax