Don’t give Trump a platform — wound him with your silence

Abraham Lincoln wouldn’t recognise the Republican Party today, write Fergus Finlay 

One of my two greatest political heroes outside Ireland is Abraham Lincoln (the other is Willi Brandt, but that’s a different story). Lincoln is a hero because of what he did, but much more because of who he was. I have a bookshelf at home of Lincoln biographies, and the essence of the man shines out from all of them.

Humble, honest, endearing, modest, he was a man who endured great pain throughout his life. He was president less than a year, and in the middle of a great war, when his son Willie died. Willie was only 11, and his death broke Lincoln’s heart. But mourning was impossible for him. A day or two after Willie’s death, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated President of the Confederacy. Even as Willie lay dying, news of a great battle came through to Washington – Ulysses S Grant’s first victory as Lincoln’s general.