[DiogenesLamp]

And it shows the Deep State was already in high gear back in 1860. And Abraham Lincoln was really a 19th century Mitch McConnell.

I thought you might be interested in seeing this.

“We may congratulate ourselves that this cruel war is nearing its end. It has cost a vast amount of treasure and blood… It has indeed been a trying hour for the Republic; but I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless.” Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864

[poconopundit]

It's a very interesting quote of Lincoln's.

Understanding that we would one day break up monopolies might have eased his concerns. But today we have Globalism to worry about that he probably didn't foresee.

Ben Franklin understood the inevitable rise of corruption at the formation of the Republic. The actor Eli Wallach says Franklin's words in the film shown over and over again at the Philadelphia Liberty Bell center:

"In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution, with all its faults, — if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no form of government but what may be a blessing to the people, if well administered; and I believe, farther, that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being incapable of any other."
Speech to the Constitutional Convention (September 17, 1787)

[BroJoeK]

DiogenesLamp quoting alleged Lincoln: " I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country.
As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow..." alleged by Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864

Following from DiogenesLamp link makes clear this is not a quote from Lincoln himself, but rather a Jesse W. Weik 1889 interpretation of Lincoln's law partner William Herndon's decades later interpretation of Lincoln, made while Herndon suffered alcoholism in the years before his death in 1892.

In fact, Lincoln worked for railroad companies and was not opposed to them on principle.
The quote itself sounds like 1890 era urban Progressives rather than 1860s rural Republicans.