The following statement is from Congressman Mark DeSaulnier:
“This President’s Day, I am thinking, as I often do, of the words of one of my favorite presidents, Abraham Lincoln. During his first inaugural address, when the country was on the precipice of civil war, Lincoln outlined the most solemn oath that he and all our nation’s leaders must adhere to….to “preserve, protect, and defend” the country.”
WHENEVER A POLITICIAN ON EITHER SIDE ISSUES A STATEMENT THAT WE POST, WE’LL FACT CHECK IT WITH ChatGPT. Here’s what they say about DeSaulnier’s statement:
Fact Check: Did Lincoln Say Leaders Must “Preserve, Protect and Defend” the Country?
Mostly False / Needs Context
The phrase “preserve, protect, and defend” does appear in American government — but not in the way the statement suggests.
The wording comes from Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, which contains the presidential oath of office:
“…I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
The oath is specifically to the Constitution, not simply “the country.”
In his First Inaugural Address on March 4, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln did reference this obligation, saying:
“You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to ‘preserve, protect and defend’ it.”
However, Lincoln did not formally “outline” the oath in that speech, nor did he describe it as applying broadly to “all our nation’s leaders.” He was referring to the constitutional oath taken by the president.
Bottom line: The phrase is authentic and Lincoln referenced it — but the statement misattributes its source and slightly misstates what the oath actually requires.
Really!!!
Who gives a crap what this douche nozzle thinks or says??? He’s nothing more than an
shill/nobody/enabler!!!
I turn the other way and turn off my ears when this blowhard spouts his liberal dribble!
Even when he’s praising a Republican president like Lincoln I sm suspect of his motives.
Lincoln was a Republican who loved his country. He believed absolute freedom
was our strength, and that all men should be free. Lincoln believed in restoring
America to its original union and making America great again. Jefferson Davis,
who was a Democrat and the president of the Confederacy, wanted to divide
the country…. Nothing has changed.
The southern states were solidly Democratic from before the Civil War until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that led a majority of Southern white voters to begin supporting Republicans in presidential elections. This shift in party affiliation continued and grew over the next 30 years until it became essentially complete by the early 90s.
The Observer,
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You’ve hugely oversimplified the changes in voting patterns in “the South.”
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It was really beginning in 2000, where the realignment of voting patterns in “the South” became a fairly consistent stronghold for Republican candidates for president, yet, not a complete Republican stronghold for presidential candidates. What really moved the majority of “the South” to become a fairly reliable Republican stronghold beginning around the year 2000 was Evangelical voters. Outside of “the South,” Evangelical voters had been overwhelmingly Republican, but in “the South” they were overwhelmingly Democrats. Beginning in the early 1990s southern Evangelicals began fleeing the Democratic Party for the Republican Party over social issues. It’s been the 3 decade long movement of Evangelicals from the early 1990s to today that moved “the South” towards Republicans much more than any defection of white Democrats beginning in the mid 1960s due to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. If it was all about the defection of southern white Democrats, as you claim, then why would it have taken up to 50 plus years for Republicans to win U.S. Senate seats, a majority of U.S. House seats, governorships, state legislative chambers, and local offices in “the South.” If white Democrats were defecting beginning in 1964, don’t you find it strange that they’d only defect in presidential elections?
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As of 2025, registered Democrats still outnumber registered Republicans in Louisiana. It took Republicans until the general election of 2014 before they were able to capture both U.S. Senate seats in Louisiana.
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It took Republicans until the general election of 2016, 52 years after the Civil Rights act of 1964 became law, before they gained control of both Houses of the State Legislatures in the 11 former CSA states and the 4 border states, and in 2018 and 2019 they then lost both Houses in the Virginia State Legislature.
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Black voters slowly began moving away from the Republican Party after the end of Reconstruction. The Great Migration of southern blacks moving to the northern industrial states further eroded black voter support for Republicans. The first election where black voters supported a Democratic Party candidate for president over a Republican Party candidate for president was during the Great Depression in 1936. By 1948, more black voters were registered as Democrats than Republicans. The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 solidified black voter support for Democrats, even though a higher percentage of Republicans in both the House and Senate voted for both of these bills, compared to the percentage of Democrats in the House and Senate who voted for both of these bills. That fact that a higher percentage of Republicans voted for both of these bills sure does make it odd that that would cause southern white voters to move away from the Democrats and towards the Republicans, as you’ve claimed.
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What exactly do you mean by “the South?” Is it the 11 states that made up the CSA, the CSA states, plus the 3 border states of West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, and the Oklahoma Territory, later the State of Oklahoma, which were and are more in line with the southern states than the northern states, or the 11 CSA states, the 4 border states/territory, plus Maryland and Delaware that the federal government classifies as “the South?”
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You stated, “The southern states were solidly Democratic from before the Civil War until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that led a majority of Southern white voters to begin supporting Republicans in presidential elections.” This isn’t quite true, again, depending on how you define “the South.” You totally skipped over the last year of the Civil War and Reconstruction where Republican presidential candidates won in “the South.”
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1864 – Republicans won 2 CSA states, 2 border states, and Maryland.
1868 – Republicans won 6 former CSA states and 2 border states.
1872 – Republicans won 8 former CSA states, 1 border state, and Delaware.
1876 – Republicans won 3 former CSA states.
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After the end of Reconstruction, Republicans candidates for president still had some success in “the South.”
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1896 – Republicans won 2 border states and Maryland and Delaware.
1900 – Republicans won 1 border state and Maryland and Delaware.
1904 – Republicans won 2 border states and Delaware.
1908 – Republicans won 2 border states and Delaware.
1916 – Republicans won 1 border state and Delaware.
1920 – Republicans won 1 former CSA state, 3 border states, and Maryland and Delaware.
1924 – Republicans won 3 border states and Maryland and Delaware.
1928 – Republicans won 5 former CSA states, 4 border states, and Maryland and Delaware.
1932 – Republicans won Delaware.
1948 – Republicans won Maryland and Delaware.
1952 – Republicans won 4 former CSA states, 2 border states, and Maryland and Delaware.
1956 – Republicans won 5 former CSA states, 3 border states, and Maryland and Delaware.
1960 – Republicans won 3 former CSA states and 2 border states.
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Even after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 there wasn’t a massive swing towards Republicans in “the South,” it took time.
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1964 – Republicans won 5 former CSA states.
1968 – Republicans won 5 former CSA states, 3 border states, and Delaware.
1972 – Republicans won 11 former CSA states, 4 border states, and Maryland and Delaware.
1976 – Republicans won 1 former CSA state and 1 border state.
1980 – Republicans won 10 former CSA states, 3 border states, and Delaware.
1984 – Republicans won 11 former CSA states, 4 border states, and Maryland and Delaware.
1988 – Republicans won 11 former CSA states, 3 border states, and Maryland and Delaware.
1992 – Republicans won 7 former CSA states and 1 border state.
1996 – Republicans won 7 former CSA states and 1 border state.
2000 – Republicans won 11 former CSA states and 4 border states.
2004 – Republicans won 11 former CSA states and 4 border states.
2008 – Republicans won 8 former CSA states and 4 border states.
2012 – Republicans won 9 former CSA states and 4 border states.
2016 – Republicans won 10 former CSA states and 4 border states.
2020 – Republicans won 9 former CSA states and 4 border states.
2024 – Republicans won 10 former CSA states and 4 border states.
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It also wasn’t just Republicans who saw voting patterns change in “the South” over the last 60 years, as Maryland and Delaware haven’t voted Republican since 1988 and Virginia hasn’t voted Republican since 2004 because they’ve moved back towards the Democrats.
“Lincoln was a Republican”
I wonder if Mark knew that?
I wonder if Mark even knew it was the Dems who fought to defend slavery.
Has he ever heard of the Dixiecrats who were Southern Democrat white
supremacists and advocated for racial segregation? A good number of
them were members of the KKK.
….. who is surprised? I’m not…. can’t believe a word of what comes out of his office… thanks for the fact check
Methinks mark may like those words, while incorrectly referenced, but has demonstrated repeatedly he does not understand those words.
although this is pretty innocuous in the grand scheme of things, not surprising that Mark doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He is not a serious person, he is not a learned man, he is not an independent thinker. Few are as sheeplike as Mark DeSaulnier. An actual embarrassment.
This puppet makes me want to barf real bad.
Mr. Mayor, Thank You for the AI analysis.
Wonder how schumer or schiff would fare.
Trump “quotes” things every day that aren’t real or that were never said. I eagerly await your post about that!
Sure, point taken. Trump says dumb things too. Now let’s compare accomplishments, actual DOING something, making a difference. You can claim all that Trump has done is wrong, but at the very least he’s DONE something, things which more than half of the electorate elected him to do. Name one thing that DeSaulnier has DONE to make your life better. You, likely his constituent…what has he done for you? Obstructing hasn’t accomplished anything, not one single thing, so you can’t cite that….go to his own website and click on “legislative accomplishments”, you’ll see an embarrassing attempt to elevate inconsequential legislation and things he claims to have participated in from 10+ years ago. Mark is unable to list “I’ve done nothing more for my constituents in Contra Costa County than to hold town halls to complain, walk in silly protests on street corners and use social media to send messages of resistance, all of which are futile and don’t serve people. Go ahead, name something our representative has done for US!
Yes, he says some real doozies…. May have even made up a creative accomplishment or two 🥴 but I can’t remember him ever actually quoting someone else.
Meanwhile…he gets shtuff done!
whatever,
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To be fair, President Trump didn’t win the vote of more than half of the electorate, he won with 49.8% of the vote.
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Congressman DeSaulnier is doing something for all of us, he naming a Concord Post Office after his long dead friend, who openly used racist language.
it’s important to be correct, thanks for the correction.
whatever,
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It was fairly close, President Trump came up 316,572 votes short of capturing a majority of the popular vote. That was about 2 votes short in every precinct, about 101 votes short in every county, parish (Louisiana), borough (Alaska), and D.C., and about 6,208 votes short in each state and D.C.
Jessica refuses to respond.
Not unexpected.
Go ahead & call Trump fibs out in the politics column Jessica.
A word of advice tho, make sure you have your facts straight or these guys will flame you.
You have a quick example? Don’t be afraid to show it. We’ll be nice. Otherwise…..
Ahhh… we were waiting for the libs to come back and say,” but, but, but, orange man bad.”
you didn’t disappoint us.
Likely not the first thing he ever lifted or twisted to make himself look good. Did anybody ask him about requiring constituent ID before he’ll let you ask him a question?
Requiring voter ID won’t stop anybody from voting!
“Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting”
No but deportation and removing dead people from the voting registry does!
I agree bddp, but dead is DEAD and we don’t deport American citizens.
Voter ID is just upsetting Democrats because the plan was to let foreigners in and let ’em vote.
Dr. Jellyfinger,
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Do you remember back when California Democrats considered making voting mandatory a few years ago. If you didn’t want to vote you’d have to return a blank ballot or face a fine. California Democrat Legislators were embarrassed by visiting Australian legislators who were bragging about their high voter turnout, due to Australia’s compulsory voting law, compared to California’s low voter turnout.
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https://www.calvoter.org/content/voting-would-be-mandatory-elections-if-california-bill-passes
Really? I honestly don’t recall that.
I think it would be a better idea first to have every citizen of legal voting age get a voter ID card but be required to pass a general civics test before they can receive it.
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If you can’t pass ten random questions should you even be allowed to vote?
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https://civicsquestions.com/random/
Dr. Jellyfinger,
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The Supreme Court made testing to vote illegal.
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I’d like to see all candidates political parties, occupation, and the word incumbent removed from our ballots, as voters should have to know something more than a candidates political party, occupation, and the word incumbent when voting. This would require voters to make some effort to know who they’re voting for.
That’s hilarious!!!!!
He’s quoted as saying “I’m thinking, as I often do….”
He’s a moron, as are those who voted for him.