‘Lincoln had something to say’: historians ponder lessons for the age of Trump

NPR host Steve Inskeep joins other authors of books on the 16th president at annual Ford's Theatre symposium

Asked what Abraham Lincoln might have to say to Americans in 2024, an election year in a country as divided as at any time since the civil war Lincoln won, the NPR host Steve Inskeep said the 16th president would advise that a big part of building a political majority is making alliances with people you believe to be wrong".

One of the things that drew me to the topic of Lincoln was the present and the dilemmas and difficulties of democracy right now," Inskeep said on Saturday, appearing in connection with his book Differ We Must: How Lincoln Succeeded in a Divided America, at the 27th Annual Abraham Lincoln Institute Symposium, at Ford's Theatre in Washington DC.