I listened to several of the “talking heads” programs this morning. As should not be surprising the common topic of discussion was the breaching of the Capitol by rioters. There was universal condemnation of it by Republicans and Democrats alike. It was a rare instance of agreement.
Several of the Democrats highlighted the grave moral necessity of punishing not just those who participated in the rioting but the president and those (like Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley) who backed him up. I couldn’t distinguish among sincere expressions of belief, desperately trying to secure a place in today’s Democratic Party, particularly on the part of Rahm Emanuel, and battlespace preparation for the 2024 presidential elections. As I’ve said I think that the dilemma for Republicans is whether supporting Trump’s impeachment and removal will be qualifying or disqualifying for running in 2024.
I don’t think an insistence on punishment that extends beyond the rioters and the president himself bodes particularly well for the unity that President-Elect Biden has been talking about. What sort of unity is it when 51% of the voters want to punish 47% of the voters? Pointing out that not everyone who voted for Biden wants to punish those who voted for Trump doesn’t help at all. Then it becomes fewer than 50% of voters wanting to punish 47% of voters.
Define punish. The tax cut passed by the GOP was designed to hurt blue states. Is that what you are talking about? The Dems should not try to get revenge? Or are we talking the stuff that the right perseverates over? We wont let people practice their religion. We lock up people on there right in camps. Or more moderate stuff like not spending money on rural priorities? Where do you draw the line between passing your own priorities vs punishment?
Steve
I think they’re talking about criminal prosecution of those in Congress who have supported Trump (like Cruz and Hawley). Beyond that you’ll need to ask them.
I think it’s important to try to understand who these people are. One former Proud Boys member described it as more like Fight Club than White Supremacy. They say, “we are everywhere “ and ,“we will never back down. “
They are working class, or see themselves as such, remember that military and law enforcement are drawn from the working class. There was some support from capital police.
The pace of social change ( some call it progress), has been too rapid and too radical for them.
They see themselves as protecting society from a liberal homosexual agenda that seeks to neuter men destroy their traditional way of life.
They have more in common with radical Islam there than they know.
Rush knows who they are and how to influence them, he’s nearly gone but this problem is now Biden’s. We’ll see how good he is at straddling fences.
Impeachment of Trump is an unnecessary mistake, you martyr him.
I pointed that out about Jacksonian social conservatives in one of my earliest posts here. The very first contact between a U. S. president and a Saudi head of state which took place as Roosevelt returned from Yalta highlighted that. It was an interesting episode in American history.