--- description: President Trump believes that Americans don't know that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican title: Trump Thinks America Doesn't Know Abraham Lincoln Was a Republican image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0377fcdc121d1025/6988bf51bc6cfc48943e096a/donald-trump-lincoln.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Donald Trump](/tag/donald-trump/) ## Donald Trump Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # President Trump Thinks America Doesn't Know Abraham Lincoln Was a Republican by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Mar 22, 2017 12:55 AM CUT  Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump addresses a campaign rally in the Rodeo Arena at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds October 29, 2016 in Golden, Colorado. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump addresses a campaign rally in the Rodeo Arena at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds October 29, 2016 in Golden, Colorado.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Mar 22, 2017 12:55 AM CUT [President Trump](http://time.com/4708727/neil-gorsuch-donald-trump-judge-attack-disheartening-demoralizing/ "undefined") believes that most Americans don’t know that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. “Great president. Most people don’t even know he was a Republican,” Trump said while addressing attendees at the National Republican Congressional Committee Dinner. “Does anyone know? Lot of people don’t know that.” > [](https://twitter.com/ClaudiaKoerner/status/844338560572416000) Trump then said Republicans need to spread the word that Lincoln was a Republican, appearing to be unaware of the fact that the GOP is commonly referred to as the “party of Lincoln.” “Let’s take an ad, let’s use one of those PACs,” he said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4708749/donald-trump-abraham-lincoln-republican/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4708749/donald-trump-abraham-lincoln-republican/"},"headline":"President Trump Thinks America Doesn't Know Abraham Lincoln Was a Republican","datePublished":"2017-03-22T00:55:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:57:46.225Z","description":"\"Great president\"","url":"https://time.com/4708749/donald-trump-abraham-lincoln-republican/","keywords":["Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0377fcdc121d1025/6988bf51bc6cfc48943e096a/donald-trump-lincoln.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0377fcdc121d1025/6988bf51bc6cfc48943e096a/donald-trump-lincoln.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Campaigns In Golden, Colorado","caption":"Donald Trump Campaigns In Golden, Colorado","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4708749/donald-trump-abraham-lincoln-republican/","name":"President Trump Thinks America Doesn't Know Abraham Lincoln Was a Republican"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Trump Praised Both Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay. 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