The pressure of accountability aimed at liberals escapes conservatives. Many Conservatives continue to defend Russia, who bombed a theater clearly marked as a shelter for children in the early days of their invasion of Ukraine. In contrast, Barack Obama was lambasted for using drone strikes in Afghanistan that killed the innocent and the guilty. MAGA disregards older adults and children bombed to smithereens because Donald Trump said Putin is strong. Hillary Clinton never recovered a significant portion of the Democratic base in 2016 because of her ill-advised vote to support George Bush’s invasion of Iraq.
Although Republicans hide behind the myth of a self-described two-tiered justice system, the difference in the excuses made for MAGA and accountability for Democrats is apparent. Donald Trump declared he would purge the DOJ and the FBI of anyone who dared investigate his alleged wrongdoing regarding his careless mishandling of American secrets. In contrast, the former FBI director [James Comey] announced an investigation into Ms. Clinton ten days before the 2016 election, and the result, he called her “extremely careless.” The percentage points it trimmed from her lead were enough to plunge the country into a neo-authoritarian state.
Imagine if Canada or Mexico conducted daily bombing raids on New York or Chicago while simultaneously taking out our military bases and power grids. The President asks our allies for weapons to fight, not soldiers, just weaponry. Our world partners dole out what they think we need, not what we ask. Meanwhile, our children live through a heatless, hungry winter while waiting on the next bomb to wipe out their families and friends. In that scenario, would Conservative politicians debate the life and death of our democracy and excuse it as legitimate discourse? At the same time, the other side is viewed as money-wasting dupes interfering with an authoritarian’s scheme to recapture Eastern Europe and reconstitute the Soviet empire.
The so-called “deep state” fallacy may be the biggest affront to justice to excuse lawlessness since Plessy v. Ferguson. When Fred Hampton, who led a group of “black militants,” was murdered in his bed by the FBI, conservatives bent the law until it broke, covering up for and defending the atrocity. Social and criminal justice groups, who fought for the rights of the Black Panthers, cried foul, and conservatives chalked it up to disbanding what former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover called the biggest threat to America (the ends justify the means). MAGA wants the FBI defunded now that the pendulum of justice is swinging in the other direction. The DOJ telling the truth about white supremacist violence as the most significant threat to internal American peace is partly the cause for the GOP forming a committee against the weaponization of government, aside from protecting Donald Trump.
As a black American, I can point to deep state spying on Dr. King, Malcolm X, and the Black Panther Party, arguably leading to murder and political assassination. Conservatives defend violence as worthy of legitimate political discussion without being disqualified from the public square. Imagine African American protesters fed up with watching black children and young men routinely killed by authorities storming the Capitol and threatening the lives of lawmakers and President Barack Obama (telling the survivors) to go home and “we love you.” Liberals, Democrats, and Progressives have played the—what if game since the day the Trump administration’s lies began about the size of his Inaugural crowd.
As implausible as it sounds, I have concluded that MAGA Republicans like to be lied to. One might ask why lies are accepted by so many. A lie is more manageable than the truth. You can appease yourself by making a lie mean anything you want, untethered by reality. The moon landing was on the backlot of a Hollywood studio. Elvis and Tupac are enjoying a Mai Tai on a beach, and Jewish space lasers start forest fires. The believers change the scenario when presented with facts about their conspiracies. Truth is finite; up is up, down is down, and therefore less entertaining. Conspiracy also cannot be defeated by common sense. I heard a phrase as a youngster when I questioned an adult about religion: “You’re of the world.” That ended any logical debate.
You’re of the world, has been replaced in our current state of confusion with the words deep state or woke. Meaningless words because MAGA arguments are so weak they creak under the weight of truth. Democrats mistakenly believe reason will prevail if you just put truth into the ether. I contend it is time to stop being coy and tactful. It is time to stare across the dining table, stop excusing Uncle Shaman or Aunt Lauren, and call them damnable un-American liars. Pass the potatoes.
Vote Against Guns