NEW YORK: During the American Civil War of the 1860s, Abraham Lincoln, the Republican President who is credited with saving the union, would walk quietly to a pew at St John’s Church at Lafayette Square.
He would come in unnoticed, pray, and leave unobtrusively before the service ended, so as not to disturb other parishioners.
On Monday, Donald Trump, the President who has dragged the Republican Party further away from its Lincolnian heritage than any of his predecessors, also walked across from the White House to the church.
He came with his trusted allies, including his daughter, the defence secretary, and a bemedaled general. To clear the path for this entourage, Trump’s attorney-general, William Barr, had instructed the security