In the 2008 presidential campaign, the late Arizona Senator John McCain, in a town hall rally, broke out with a rejiggered chorus of the Beach Boys hit song Barbara Ann—singing instead bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb—bomb Iran. He attributed the subsequent backlash from liberals and critics to not having a sense of humor. Then-President George W. Bush restrained those in his party who wanted all-out war. Hyperbole is part and parcel of the Republican effort to keep their constituency angry and hostile to anything or anyone, black or brown. They are like the carnival soothsayers who make a thousand predictions, and when one comes to fruition, they say I told you so. Donald Trump, aside from forecasting the American economy crash, is predicting a terror attack before the next election. If it happens, he will say I told you so and if it does not, he will say [insert Muslim regime] was afraid of his retaking the White House
The more things change, the more…
Things stay the same in the eyes of Republicans. The recent attack that killed three American service people in a Jordanian outpost—so far primarily attributed to Hezbollah, an arm of Iranian terrorism, has Republicans again clamoring for a strike in the country of Iran. “I am calling on the Biden Administration to strike targets of significance inside Iran, not only as reprisal for the killing of our forces but as deterrence against future aggression,”Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said in a statement.Roger Wicker, the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said, “We must respond to these repeated attacks by Iran and its proxies by striking directly against Iranian targets and its leadership ... The Biden administration’s responses thus far have only invited more attacks.”
Of course, Mr. Wicker saying President Biden’s lack of response is tantamount to inviting further attack less than 48 hours after the incident is patently ridiculous.
Had former President George W. Bush listened to voices like Democratic Senator Jack Reed (also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee), who said of the recent killing of U.S. service people, “The Department of Defense is still gathering all the facts from this attack. I am confident the Biden administration will respond in a deliberate and proportional manner,” or better yet Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) who was the only member of Congress to vote not to go into Afghanistan, maybe twenty years of war could have been avoided.Mr. Trump takes lots of blame for the current state of the Republican party, but that minimizes the Republican base's responsibility and, worst, complicity.
From the moment Mr. Trump descended the escalator at Trump Tower and (word of the day) “defamed” Mexicans, he revealed the pent-up racism and xenophobia in the Republican party until then restrained by decorum and phony decency. From that point, and as Gen Z would put it, bigots have let their freak flag fly. Recently, Charlie Kirk—a noted racist, questioned the competency of every black commercial airline pilot, stating in an interview, “If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified.’” On the cusp of Black History Month, maybe someone should remind Mr. Kirk of the hundreds of white fighter pilots and crew members who survived World War II and their subsequent descendants, which were made possible by the protection of the Tuskegee Airmen.
But of course, it is much easier to be signed onto the permission slip of a man, allowing you to call names, deny history, and fly the flag of isolationism, fear, and loathing.
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