Here's the lead into a recent letter from American Historian Heather Cox Richardson. You can see the full leader by clicking https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/september-7-2021
Early in the wake of Trump’s presidency, Republican Party lawmakers facing upcoming elections appear to have made the calculation that radicalized Trump voters were vital to their political futures. They seemed to worry that they needed to protect themselves against primary candidates from the right, since primaries are famous for bringing out the strongest partisans. If they could win their primaries, though, they could rely on tradition, gerrymandering, and voter suppression to keep them in office.
My comment below attracted a few responses:
Sloan Bashinsky
A very good Republican friend, who voted for Donald Trump, once was in the US Army Special Forces and saw serious jungle combat in Central America.
A few months ago, he texted me:
"The idiots who stormed the Capital should have been shot in their tracks. We all need to stop letting a tiny minority represent the majority of others."
I texted back:
"Agreed. Alas, looks to me that most Republicans in Congress, and I suppose all MAGAs and about as many white American evangelicals and lots of other Republicans are lined with those folks who should have been shot, they really believe the election was stolen, but they don't say it was stolen by blacks, even though they think just that. You know I have serious problems with the blue side, too."
The red states passing more restrictive voting laws is dead solid proof Republicans think blacks stole the 2020 election.
The leader of the white January 6 mob also should have been shot, by a firing squad, and every Republican in Congress and in America should have called for for it.
Instead, all but a few Republicans in Congress, and elsewhere, wail and gnash their teeth about Joe Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan, honoring Trump's agreement with the Taliban, while they ignore the American Taliban, bless their little hearts.
Unless totally brain dead, Republicans and MAGAs have to know Trump knew pulling America out of Afghanistan would be rough, and that's why he didn't do it during his first term and lose votes over it. But its so much more fun to burn Joe Biden at the stake.
I hope Lady Karma has serious designs on the American Taliban, spelled, RepubliKlan.
A political party that claims to represent God and Jesus, invites God and Jesus to test that party more than other parties.
A nation that puts "under God" in its Pledge of Allegiance and "In God we trust" on all of its money, invites God to test that nation more than other nations.
The American left might wish to ask God to removed the beams from the left's eyes
And, the American left might wish to buy lots of guns, because if shooting wars break out in America, the left won't stand a chance against the right.Kathy
Not sure I would want to be here, live here, if the shooting breaks out. What would the military do?
Sloan Bashinsky
The military did nothing on Jan 6 but has no qualms about fighting outside of America. Looks to me America is far more threatened by Americans, than by, say, Taliban in Afghanistan.
Christine (FL)
They will if the Commander in Chief in charge of the military is President Biden. I would have heartily agreed with you when it was Trump. We all saw the Capitol police alone while thousands of military were held in the wings for hours.
And I find it strange when people act like no one on the “American left” owns a weapon.
Sloan Bashinsky
The American left own weapons, but they do not holler for restriction of the kind of weapons the American right worship, based on what I see in news and online.
I wonder why the Capitol police did not empty their guns into the mob after it breached the Capitol, and reload and empty their guns again, until they ran out of bullets? It was their sworn duty to protect the Capitol and Congress, including using deadly force. For much less provocation, American police shoot civilians.
Judith
"For much less provocation, American police shoot civilians." But, note, almost every one of those civilians is black or brown, seldom Asian however.
Sloan Bashinsky
Yep, and based on all I saw filmed at the Capitol, the insurgents were all white.
Judith
Exactly!
Sloan Bashinsky
The black Capitol policeman who shot and killed the white Capitol female insurgent was vilified by the right. Heather's excellent Sept. 7 letter explores past presidents' pardoning bad presidents and bad government officials, and civil lawsuits prominent Democrats have filed against Trump and his people over Jan 6. Civil lawsuits do not bring criminal sanctions, but the discovery in such lawsuits can lead to criminal prosecution. Can. The criminal prosecution of Trump and his circle who egged on the Jan 6 riot should have begun on Jan 7.
Kathleen
It may be a fatal flaw, but I do not carry or own a weapon, and am not willing to kill. So long as we see killing as the solution to our problems, I feel we just dig a little deeper into the same old hole. I could be wrong ... then again ..., maybe not ... I have faced down people with weapons and survived - it seems to me, the greatest power I have is a willingness to die, if necessary, to honor life ... and that seems to open a pathway through to communication and resolution ... seems that way to me, anyhow ....
Kathleen, I perhaps have this “fatal flaw”. My last job required home visits, often to the projects. An acquaintance once asked me if I “packed”. I thought it was a strange question to ask a health professional.
Maybe I was a naive, but I never once feared for my safety. Actually, I feared more for my patients and their families. It was such an eye-opening experience. Most of these people were just trying to get through that day…
Indeed ... real people struggling against overwhelming odds ... I am great-full to have stepped beyond the boundaries of an acceptable, predictable, programmable world where people can claim their own abundance so long as they stay within bounds and ignore/deny the plight of others not so blessed - or is it really a curse - to be so unaware of what others must suffer, while accumulating the trappings of 'the good life' ... just keep those blinders on ... I do experience fear at times ... the way through for me is to accept it might be 'a good day to die' and continue on my own path, according to my own conscience ... truth in my heart is what guides me through a world of lies ....
Sloan Bashinsky
I like your outlook, but I am finding no pathway to communication with the American right wing, and little pathway with the American left wing, either. I told some people lately, that I learned some time ago that I could be speaking with someone who seems perfectly sane and logical, but if the topic shifts to religion or politics, they become programmed robots.
Kathleen
I hear you Sloan ... as I am such a misfit in this world of murderous, rapist wealth and fame seekers, I may wind up ushered into the 5th dimension and leaving this hell-hole behind to the hellions ... I have hoped we could salvage (not savage) this wondrous planet from the death grip of the power trippers ... maybe not in this dimension ... maybe this world will be their domain, while people of heart and soul will migrate to the unspoiled world beyond ... it takes all kinds ....
Sloan Bashinsky
I found myself wondering lately if there is any place in America where I can not be around MAGAs and Evangelicals? I couldn't think of such a place, other than living in a cave and growing my own food. I think being on this world and experiencing its varied presentations is part of the soul's evolution.
I just a bit ago commented under something a fellow, Albert Clayton Gaulden, with lots of Facebook followers posted on his wall, heralding a book he wrote years past but was not published, and he is thinking about publishing. He's a lefty, very disturbed about the right. He's from my home town, Birmingham, Alabama. I don't think we ever met. He lives in Sedona, is a recovering alcoholic, seems pretty tuned in, relies heavily on the 12 Steps and astrology. Counsels trying to stay calm and self-aware. Here's my comment:
"The Devil is walking the earth in many forms today, some obvious, some not. Many people are unaware and/or deceived. Claiming God is on your side does not make it so, that is God’s call. Crossed over souls see very differently than before they crossed over. What we do each day echoes in eternity, as does what we don’t do."
sloanbashinsky@yahoo.com
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