Trumpist Terms of Surrender

[honorentheos]

To comment specifically on this -

I think you underestimate the well justified anger on the mainstream and left side of the divide and the power that can be, and will be, brought to bear to reduce the threat.

I don't think I'm underestimating that by any stretch. Quite the opposite. I think that when the above feel they have won and demand total surrender out of anger and a sense of empowerment the result won't be agreement to terms. Rather, the war will turn out to be ahead of rather than behind us. And I think there is just as much anger, just as much resentment that exists on that side that the words of Rick Wilson are not the closing bell but rather early shots if accepted.

I'm suggesting taking cues from President Biden rather than Rick Wilson.

[Some Schmo]

I'm suggesting taking cues from President Biden rather than Rick Wilson.

Well, except that Biden's hope of unifying the country is empty without the right admitting they screwed up. I doubt they will admit it, but that's what it's going to take.

Honestly, I don't see how anyone can take seriously anything pundits or pols on the right have to say. They do not open their mouths without exhaling deception.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Xanax and the jenius should consider that their little redneck revolutionaries are all going to spend the next 10-20 years in jail because Trump told them to go to the Capitol and then he wouldn't even pardon them, but instead decided to pardon a bunch of black rappers and swamp rats on his last day as President.

#tendermercies

- Doc

[DrW]

Some wondered how they could possibly mend their broken relationships with the loved ones they’d pushed away over their obsessions with Q.

I imagine there are plenty of folks out there today, perhaps millions, for whom the "Q" in the above sentiment has been, or will be, replaced by "Trump".

[Some Schmo]

We should see the prediction kick in soon where Trump supporters will become as rare as Nazi sympathizers.

Course, it seems like there are a lot more Nazi sympathizers these days, so the prediction isn't necessarily all that prescient.

[Some Schmo]

Another thing I just realized... you really don't hear people invoke Godwin's Law anymore.

Hmph. Can't imagine why...

ETA: And now I'm starting to think that Godwin's Law may have contributed to our current culture. We let our guard down on fascists.

[DrW]

I'm suggesting taking cues from President Biden rather than Rick Wilson.

It's pretty clear from his inaugural speech, and published comments since January 6, that Joe Biden understands unity in America cannot be achieved unless those who have directly attacked democracy are held to account. Hitler, Chavez and Mussolini all eventually came to power after initial insurrections or coup attempts that were largely ignored and not properly dealt with.

For Hitler, it was the Munich Putsch in November of 1923. The Nazis attempted a coup in the city center in which both Nazi insurrectionists and police died. The ring leader, Adolf Hitler, was arrested charged with treason, but not executed. The rest is history.

Unity in America will be achieved in more or less direct proportion to the extent that there is justice and reconciliation for the traitors and insurrectionists. Just as in the German putsch or 1923, people died in the Capitol on January 6. Trump was the clear ringleader and enabler. Trump, Ron Jr., Giuliani, and others in the "party tent" that day, whether direct or proximate, were the cause of the attempted coup.

For the good of the country, Trump must be convicted by the Senate. They may not get the 17 votes needed from the Trumpist Republicans. However, it is likely that the Republican leadership in the Senate will arrange for enough members to be absent during the vote so that the measure to convict will pass by the needed 2/3 majority of those present.

[honorentheos]

And now, a rise in political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat.

To overcome these challenges – to restore the soul and to secure the future of America – requires more than words.

It requires that most elusive of things in a democracy:

Unity.

Unity.

In another January in Washington, on New Year’s Day 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

When he put pen to paper, the President said, “If my name ever goes down into history it will be for this act and my whole soul is in it.”

My whole soul is in it.

Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this:

Bringing America together.

Uniting our people.

And uniting our nation.

I ask every American to join me in this cause.

Uniting to fight the common foes we face:

Anger, resentment, hatred.

Extremism, lawlessness, violence.

Disease, joblessness, hopelessness.

With unity we can do great things. Important things.

We can right wrongs.

We can put people to work in good jobs.

We can teach our children in safe schools.

We can overcome this deadly virus.

We can reward work, rebuild the middle class, and make health care secure for all.

We can deliver racial justice.

We can make America, once again, the leading force for good in the world.

I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy.

I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real.

But I also know they are not new.

Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are all created equal and the harsh, ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, and demonization have long torn us apart.

The battle is perennial.

Victory is never assured.

Through the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War, 9/11, through struggle, sacrifice, and setbacks, our “better angels” have always prevailed.

In each of these moments, enough of us came together to carry all of us forward.

And, we can do so now.

History, faith, and reason show the way, the way of unity.

We can see each other not as adversaries but as neighbors.

We can treat each other with dignity and respect.

We can join forces, stop the shouting, and lower the temperature.

For without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury.

No progress, only exhausting outrage.

No nation, only a state of chaos.

This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward.

And, we must meet this moment as the United States of America.

If we do that, I guarantee you, we will not fail.

We have never, ever, ever failed in America when we have acted together.

And so today, at this time and in this place, let us start afresh.

All of us.

Let us listen to one another.

Hear one another.
See one another.

Show respect to one another.

Politics need not be a raging fire destroying everything in its path.

Every disagreement doesn’t have to be a cause for total war.

And, we must reject a culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured.

My fellow Americans, we have to be different than this.

America has to be better than this.

[honorentheos]

Wanting total surrender is equivalent to declaring total war given the state of politics. It's possible to expect accountability, and a commitment to a better future. But really, we are Nielson Mandela trying to unite South Africa following apartheid more than we are MacArthur on the USS Missouri.

[DrW]

Wanting total surrender is equivalent to declaring total war given the state of politics. It's possible to expect accountability, and a commitment to a better future. But really, we are Nielson Mandela trying to unite South Africa following apartheid more than we are MacArthur on the USS Missouri.

Call it Nelson Mandela-like Truth and Reconciliation if you wish. But before healing can begin, those who have taken an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution and yet have knowingly and willfully lied to the American people for years, or who have incited or physically participated in the crime of sedition, must acknowledge their wrongdoing, apologize for it, and make restitution - just like Rick Wilson outlined- just like any other common criminal, before they can rightfully re-enter society.