We must throw off Trump or be ourselves subdued

By Donald A. Collins | 29 May 2026
Church and State

(Credit: YouTube / screengrab)

Mark Twain once upon a time said that “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes”.

In late 1862 the Civil War was going very badly for the North and Lincoln wanted to issue an order for more troops but needed a victory before signing the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.

It took until early 1865 to pass the 13th amendment to the Constitution which made slavery of African Americans unconstitutional.

Lincoln realized that keeping the union together required the elimination of slavery when he said, “we must free the slaves or be ourselves subdued”.

As we approach the midterm elections in November, the country is as deeply divided as any time since the Civil War. But to compare these two seems impossible, but to me completely plausible.

Let me explain.

I have just finished listening to the 909-page Pulitzer Prize-winning Civil War history, entitled Battle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson. He turns the most challenging time in our history of the Republic into a totally absorbing, complex story you will find hard to stop listening to, as I did. The print of the paperback edition is quite small, but it contains photographs of the principal players and maps of the battlefield, which allows you to look up specific incidents as you are listening.

Lincoln’s instinct about the necessity to eliminate slavery could only become possible with the defeat of the Confederacy, but his initial expressed priority was keeping the Union together.

The Confederacy was an autocracy whose racism haunts us to this day. However, substantial progress in passing laws which protect black Americans has been attacked by the Trump administration, which seeks the same autocracy.

McPherson‘s book details the horrible human cost of the Civil War and the complex ways that Lincoln managed to keep the North going until substantial defeat was achieved.

While utterly different in terms of violence then, the goal of maintaining the South’s autocracy and the present goal of Trump’s administration to achieve the same condition in our republic offers sharp insight as to what action we must take to achieve success in retaining our democracy.

The South’s leaders were rich kings, totally focused on their cotton monopoly, basically like Trump and his billionaire allies are determined to achieve. The Confederates fought to keep their dictatorship and lost.

McPherson‘s book makes extremely clear how close the North was to losing. Grant’s string of military victories started turning the tide after a series of Union generals who were either incompetent or unwilling to do battle at crucial times were fired.

Finally, on September 2nd 1864, General William Tecumseh Sherman took Atlanta and began his legendary march to the sea, which saved Lincoln, who was about to be beaten in the November election because of the grinding war which began in 1861.

It was a narrow escape for the dominant Republicans because the Democrats would have sued for peace instead of completing Lincoln’s visionary objectives.

Trump and his allies have made great progress toward achieving a dictatorship.

At present, there appears to be no eloquent Democratic voice, which can articulate the urgency of this threat, and many American voters are substantially unaware of where we’re going except for the affordability issues and the Iranian war.

Can the results in the midterm elections begin the process of dismantling Trump’s illegal traitorous actions, including his outrageous use of his office for self-enrichment?

Impossible? Certainly, I suggest you read Anne Applebaum’s book entitled Autocracy Inc., which describes the multiple forces at work to undermine us, just as there were so many conflicting forces at the time of the Civil War.

McPherson book of Civil War history which chronicles the twist and turns and nuances of history, compared to the crazy circumstances of today which mirror how we got to Trump and what the future could be!

Thus, it is particularly important to heed Lincoln‘s words that “we must throw off slavery or be ourselves subdued!”

On January 1, 1863 at his signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln had received a notice from the representative of the six border states that had remained in the union at the start of the war that his objective, which would include eliminating slavery, would not be acceptable to them, nor would it be effective, as it would lengthen the war.

Well, we certainly are not happy about the Iranian war and its likely continuance.

The era in which we are involved under President Trump to destroy our democracy reminds everyone that we are basically in a desperate situation for our Republic, as we were during slavery.

While the unimaginable horror of the losses created by the Civil War, more than 620,000 killed and a huge number suffering from wounds of a lifetime, the purging of slavery from our country, despite our lingering racism which continues to this day, has proved to be of critical importance to our Republic.

Had the American Civil War continued it was interesting to learn that upper-class English leaders were quietly hoping the South could win since they didn’t like the bumptious behaviour of northern Yankees. But of course, this only reminds us that they really hoped the South would win, so it would facilitate their relations with King Cotton.

It doesn’t seem to be much of a stretch to say that the billionaires in America would seek to take over the government so they could avoid having to deal with the rules that our Constitution and our real rule of law have long imposed.

Why hasn’t the GOP majority in Congress, funded heavily by these ultra-rich Americans, failed to call out Trump, who is working to create an authoritarian government?

The nature of war today is vastly changed, leaving the only weapon that could destroy the world in multiple copies around the world so that Iran having a nuclear weapon would be perfectly safe because that government wishes to keep the control they have had since 1979 over their citizens.

However, just as slavery needed to be extinguished as Lincoln said “we must throw off slavery or be ourselves subdued” Trump and his authoritarians must be removed from power.

By the way, since nuclear power could be so effectively used to allow the elimination of fossil fuel, saving earth from global warming, the flooding of rising seas, and the need to live peacefully because the alternative is not acceptable would certainly be something to strive for in the future lest we move as we are now toward the Sixth Extinction.

While such an accomplishment seems impossible, the growing threats to our environment will suggest that worldwide efforts are imperative in a few decades.

Former US Navy officer, banker and venture capitalist, Donald A. Collins, a free lance writer living in Los Angeles, CA, has spent over 60 years working for women’s reproductive health as a board member and/or officer of numerous family planning organizations including Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Guttmacher Institute, Family Health International and Ipas. Yale under graduate, NYU MBA. He is the author of 15 books: “From the Dissident Left: A Collection of Essays 2004-2013”, “Trump Becoming Macbeth: Will our democracy survive?”, “We Humans Overwhelm Our Earth: 11 or 2 Billion by 2100?”, “What Can Be Done Now to Save Habitable Life on Planet Earth?”, “Vote”, “Can Homo Sapiens Survive?”, “Will Choice and Democracy Win?”, “Can Our U.S. Survive 8 Plus Billion of Us”, “Economic Growth: A Cancer on all Earthly Life”, “On the Precipice of Political Disaster in 2024”, “Democracy at Red State Risk”, “Does Trump Go to Jail or to The Oval Office?”, “Trump: Pardon or Punish?: The Nixon Precedence Was Not A Trump Coup Denied!”, “Common Sense: When will Trump be Impeached, Indicted, and Exited?”, “Trump–unrestrained dangerous liar!”, “Our Ethnic Mix May Save Us!” and “Trump will be gone before November 3, 2026!”.

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