On March 4, l861, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as president of the United States. It was a perilous time. Already seven southern states had seceded from the Union. And a month later on April 14, the Confederacy seized Fort Sumter, and the Civil War began. Four bloody years followed costing 750,000 lives before the war ended.

Abraham Lincoln was a remarkable commander in chief in leading this nation to victory. Furthermore, he initiated the abolition of slavery by his Emancipation Proclamation. He’s one of the greatest presidents in American history.

In my reading of a biography of Lincoln, I recently came across a little-known fact that is relevant today. In 1864, Lincoln was faced with a tough reelection campaign against George McClellan. When asked what he would do if defeated, Lincoln calmly replied that he would work with his successor, and peacefully transfer power on inauguration day. So for the next century and a half this pattern prevailed in our nation as the outgoing president peacefully transferred power to the incoming president.

But this noble tradition was abruptly changed in the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump immediately claimed that he had won the election, despite the fact that he had won only 232 electoral votes to 306 for Biden, and he had lost the popular election by over 7 million votes. He lost in court in his attempt to change the election results. He then placed immense pressure on Vice President Mike Pence to change the electoral votes. Bravely, Pence refused this unconstitutional action. Trump then called for the Jan. 6 protest, which resulted in a violent mob attacking the Capitol.

Trump now refers to those rioters as “hostages” and “patriots,” even those who have been convicted of a crime.

This is not the only contrast between Lincoln and Trump. Lincoln always honored the soldiers who fought and died in the Civil War. In 1863, he dedicated the cemetery at Gettysburg that contained the remains of the soldiers who lost their lives in that horrific battle. He honored these men with these memorable words: “The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power, to add or detract.”

Trump, while in France, was asked to visit a cemetery where American soldiers were buried. Trump replied, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It is filled with losers.”

Doris Kearns Goodwin in her excellent book, “Team of Rivals,” describes how Lincoln skillfully wove a group of disparate men into an effective working cabinet. Illustrative of the respect Lincoln’s cabinet had for him, upon learning of Lincoln’s assassination, Edwin Stanton, secretary of war, said, “He now belongs to the ages.”

Conversely, 16 top Trump administration aides will not endorse him in his present run for president. Said Bill Barr, Trump’s former attorney general: “I don’t think he should be near the Oval Office.” John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, simply said that Trump is unfit to be president. Mark Esper, the former secretary of defense, bluntly said that “Trump is a threat to democracy.” Many American historians have said that no other American president has ever been viewed so negatively as Trump by those who worked with them.

Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher, wisely said, “Character is destiny.” And Donald Trump has proven over and over that his character makes him unfit to be our next president. His lack of respect for women, his repeated lies, his constant insults, his promise to seek vengeance on his enemies if elected and his narcissism disqualify him. Remember these stirring words from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address: “That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that the government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

Jack Scott is the former president of Pasadena City College and for 12 years served in the California Assembly and then state Senate.