A former U.S. ambassador to Russia blasted a Republican lawmaker Monday for making a comparison between how Presidents Lincoln and Trump were treated after their elections.
Michael McFaul, who served as the top U.S. diplomat in Moscow under former President Obama, called out Rep. Tom McClintock on Twitter after the California Republican said during the House Judiciary Committee’s impeachment hearing that “democracy collapses into chaos” when parties attempt to overturn “the will of the voters.”
“That’s only happened twice in our nation’s history,” McClintock said. “It happened in 1860 when Democrats refused to accept the legitimate election of Abraham Lincoln. And it happened again in 2016 when the Democrats refused to accept legitimate election of Donald Trump.”
Lincoln’s election in 1860 prompted several Southern states to secede from the Union, initiating the start of the Civil War.
“Sorry Congressman McClintock, but 1860 and 2016 should never be compared as analogies,” McFaul tweeted. “That’s a disgraceful insult to those who gave their lives to preserve our Union.”