New Yuck Values

The road to the White House in 1860 was paved with an ugly campaign.  Reginald Remington Trump, a distant relative of Donald Trump's, battled many candidates -- including Hector Granville Cruz (Ted Cruz's great-great-great-great-grandfather) -- for the Republican nomination.

Pictured at the left:  Reginald Remington Trump's debate with Hector "Heck" Cruz in 1860.

Trump attacked Cruz by suggesting he was ineligible to become president because Cruz was born in Canada to an American-born mother and a Cuban-born father (Info HERE).  Cruz countered with criticism of Trump's character and his "New York values."

Emmett Lee Dickinson, Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed (at her request) and a very good friend to Abraham Lincoln, influenced the campaign by publishing poems about the Trump-Cruz dispute.

Below on the left:  Emmett Lee Dickinson's poem "His Height in New York comforts not," about the Trump-Cruz feud, helped Abraham Lincoln secure the Republican nomination in 1860.  His poem also inspired third cousin Emily to write "Their Height in Heaven comforts not" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:
 
His Height in New York comforts not –
His Glory – naught to me –
’Tis best imperfect – as it is –
He’s uptight – I can see –
 
The Island of Manhattan –
The Glimmering Frontier that
Shaped the Features of his Sort
To Me – shows he’s a boor –
 
The Wealth he has – does worry me –
As ’tis a meaner size –
And he has counted it until
It pleased his narrow Eyes –
 
Better are the small town values –
That show forever true –
His New York life is Evidence
To rethink – “I just don’t know.”

By Emily Dickinson:
 
Their Height in Heaven comforts not –
Their Glory – naught to me –
'Twas best imperfect – as it was –
I'm finite – I can't see –

The House of Supposition –
The Glimmering Frontier that
Skirts the Acres of Perhaps –
To Me – shows insecure –

The Wealth I had – contented me –
If 'twas a meaner size –
Then I had counted it until
It pleased my narrow Eyes –

Better than larger values –
That show however true –
This timid life of Evidence
Keeps pleading – "I don't know."