What would George W. Bush have done if, on September 12, 2001, Osama bin Laden had stepped off his private jet at JFK and implored the United Staes for unity, to become pals with Al-Qaeda—to let bygones be bygones.
Or if Emperor Hirohito had approached FDR on December 8, 1941, and admitted to "having had our differences" but suggested that—in the spirit of unity—we just move on.
Or if Timothy McVeigh had contacted Bill Clinton on April 20, 1995 and asked for forgiveness for the little kerfuffle in Oklahoma City the day before because, what we needed after that tragedy that killed 168 people and injured almost 700 more, was unity.
Truth is we didn't need unity in any of them. What we needed was to punish the evildoers and make sure they don't do it again—which brings us quite seemlessly to Donald Trump, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, five other Republican senators, and 147 Republican House members, all of whom colluded to keep Joe Biden from the office to which he was legally elected, and in so doing collaborated with and encouraged a violent mob to commit an assault on our Capitol. That big lie which let to everything untoward on January 6 is still out there.
Now these liars want unity , which apparently for them is a combination of absolution and amnesia.
Led by the charming and personable Kevin McCarthy, they have begun criticizing the Democrats for impeaching the former president because Biden's plea for unity will go wanting with another impeachment trial. Everybody likes McCarthy, but he's wrong here, and he's screwed himself playing simultaneous footsies with the traditional Republicans and the Trumpsters.
But unity? They don't deserve it. In fact the opposite is true. To allow Trump to commit treason and sedition, then look the other way is to corroborate what many Americans feel—that one set of laws exists for the wealthy and another for the poor; one for the well connected white-collar criminals and another for the rest of us. Bad enough that felons have been released through Trump's pardons, it would be even more horrendous for the traitor-in-chief to slip away unsullied.
If my linking Hawley and Cruz, et al. to bin Laden. Hirohito, and McVeigh seems over the top, let's hew closer to a real-life American traitor—Joseph McCarthy. Even after sixty years McCarthy's unhinged search for American subversives remains one of the lowest points in out history. By the time his purge was over and he was finally discredited, thousands of lives had been ruined; yet he was considered a savior by millions of fearful Americans.
Cruz, et al., are following the same path—treason disguised as patriotism, and self-aggrandizement disguised as solicitousness. They should be removed from their political positions and treated no less appropriately than any of the thugs who befouled Washinton D.C. on January 6, 2021. That includes the leader himself, Donald Trump.
Final note to Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Kevin McCarthy. et al. Today the Proud Boys gave up on Trump—calling him a failure. It's just a matter of time before that group—they're not going away—will be giving you the orders to stand back and stand by. At least you'll have someone with whom to unite.
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