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In the 1860s, newspapers continuously mocked Abraham Lincoln as an ape in their newspaper cartoons, the Internet of the day, even after Abe Lincoln was elected President.Those cartoons were not newspaper typos. They were full-blown intentional insults to the President as someone who lacked the brains to be President.Most Americans today know nothing about those embedded ape cartoons of President Abe Lincoln.History forgets cartoons. History remembers character. Ink fades. Character endures. Mockery shouts. Integrity whispers. Cartoons don’t decide legacy. Conduct does.Toxic empathy has overtaken the intellectual honesty and informed history of United States citizens.Is it wise to portray anyone in a cartoon as an ape? Of course not. But for those of us who understand history, it's politics at its worst.Not racism.