“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds. . . “
— Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Speech, 1865, with the war at an end.
Lincoln had led the North through a savage Civil War, taking a toll of 618,000 Americans that has never been surpassed.
It ended five days before he was assassinated. His post-war plan was carried out — no political or military leader of the Confederacy was tried for treason or imprisoned, as they could have been. (Some officers were tried for specific war crimes.)
The War was over, the Union was preserved, and Lincoln knew vengeance against the South would be counter-productive.
Another great statesman, Winston Churchill, put it this way: “In Victory: Magnanimity.”
That’s not the way some on the tolerant Left see it. They are busy drawing up enemies’ lists — which put some in mind of Richard Nixon and others in mind of Joseph Stalin.
Am I exaggerating? This list includes people who worked for Donald J. Trump, who funded him, and even who voted for him, courtesy of Hari Sevugan, former national press secretary for the Democratic National Committee. He was also a senior spokesman for the Barack Obama presidential campaign, and I wonder if the former president approves of this.
I doubt it. I think of Obama more like Lincoln than Nixon.
Sevugan’s threat is general. CNN anchor Jake Tapper issued a veiled threat against future employment. If you don’t accept the outcome (which has yet to be certified) you will have to face the consequences, he warned.
Did he feel the same about Democrats who supported Al Gore’s month-long court challenges in 2000? They didn’t accept the early verdict. How about his fellow Democrats who declared themselves the Resistance after Trump won in 2016? Did they ever accept the outcome?
They have justification, in their own minds. Trump was a unique evil who would destroy American democracy, I had friends tell me. They hotly threw around words like “tyranny” and “fascism.” I had more faith in the sturdiness of our institutions, even as they insisted he would refuse to leave the White House if he lost.
That’s as delusional as anything you would hear from a Trumpster.
“This is not meant to be mean or vindictive,” said Joe Lockhart, Bill Clinton’s press secretary.
But people around Trump have to be “held responsible,” for what “they’ve done”? Not vindictive? Har-dee-har-har.
What exactly have they “done” other than implement policies Democrats don’t like, and wreck some norms?
Few of which I agree with, but, see, that’s the thing with democracy. Sometimes when you lose you have to put up with things you don’t like.
The threats I am showing here run counter to Lincoln and even Joe Biden’s direct call to end the demonization. Progressives talk a lot about “better angels,” but when push gets to shove they are as low-down as those they hate, even while claiming the moral high ground. They lack self-awareness.
Joining the call for actual banishment was Jennifer Rubin, once a conservative columnist, but whose Trump Derangement Syndrome has turned her into a mini brown shirt.
“We have a list,” she warns darkly. Maybe her employer, the Washington Post will print it. I’d like to see the names of the untouchables.
We can’t leave the subject with hearing from America’s Favorite Former Barista, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez.
As I recall, she’s deleted a few herself. She wants to know if anyone is compiling an enemies’ list? I refer her to trumpaccountability.net
Have fun, AOC.
As always, I like to be balanced, and have to put on the record death threats that were received by Philadelphia’s City Commission, which oversees elections, and which always has a Republican as one of its three members.
“We need discourse that is civil, not vulgar or threatening,” said Mayor Jim Kenney, shamelessly addressing his words only to the Right.
Anyone on the Right threatening actual harm should be arrested and prosecuted.
That goes without saying.
As for the Leftists making lists, that’s not illegal.
That’s just unAmerican.
The left is acting as if they were in Gulogs for the last four years for opposing Trump. They are promising retribution to all the people who supported him as if they were the slaves and we were the slave masters. They spent the last 4 years doing everything they could to stop Trump, bogus investigations , a bogus impeachment and not a one of them was arrested or lost their position in government.
This is what fascism looks like and they are acting like the leaders of a coup in a third world country
Agreed, except I’d say that it’s the real deal. It is fascism. And we are in a civil war.
I saw this coming bc I know how vindictive and hateful the Left is. Its why years ago I advised my conservative kids to never use their real name other personal info online. As a onetime PI I showed them how easy it is to dox someone if their last name is known…or even just an email address.
And that explains your screen name here.
😉
The Left is becoming the American Gestapo: “We know who you are and we know where you live…and we will come for you.”
Enemy List: Vindman, Jeff Flake, Romney, all Dems….just for openers. things ya don’t like but put up with: separating kids from parents, vulgarity/profanity, infantile petulance etc ad infinitum…..you’d think all civilization would recoil
Well said and I am in total agreement.
Profile in cowardice: supine repube pols who tremble at the prospect of a tweet from the toddler-in-chief
When the “good” folk mentioned above begin compiling their lists I will be only too happy to lead the lists and spell the name in all CAPS. A quick look at “Sweet Little Old Joe and it will dawn on you that the country has been handed a Quisling.
Quisling? Really? To which power will he, uh, Quisle? We know which dictators Trump adored.
I always remember telling those seeking some redress against some form of unfairness or illegality to exhaust all possible remedies. In following some of the words cited by your column I really see a bitter set of adolescent adults taking their ball away from the playing field and never coming back to play the game. What they should have become part of was to support the words of their leader in the attempt to heal the divide now present in our country. Instead they will harden the opposing viewpoints and the animosity and partisanship will continue with a stagnation and weekend leadership to accomplish any productive legislation. I feel a sadness that many no longer show a human side but must become either a political label or just sheep following a Sheppard to a shearing of individual independence.
The left coming after people they disagree with isn’t new, from Nicholas Sandmann to Sarah Hukabee Sanders and Family, to the McCloskey’s in St. Louis, and many many others.
And because I’m black it’s assumed I must vote democrat, and in Joe’s depleted mind “…. I ain’t black if I don’t.” Because I’m Hispanic or Latino I must be for open borders and because I voted or worked for Trump I need to be punished. Sick! And we’re to quietly accept this election. “Give me a break” Joe.
The Trump Accountability fascists were outed and exposed. Now they have changed their tune and have shut down.🤭
Or so they say…
Trumpaccountability.net
HAPPY WEDNESDAY !!!
Well boys and girls,
“Ya dun it agn”! You don’t know how to play nice, so you’re gonna scream and stamp your feet. Then, if you can manage it. You’ll punish those that dared to disagree with you. I’m sure that your mothers and fathers are proud of you. They, and others, fought wars, hoping to give us the freedom to choose a better life. To question and challenge and not fear retribution.
Tony
What I find objectionable to this column, and some of your other writings, Stu, is you hold the “Left” to a higher standard than Trump and the “Right”. The ugliness and threats that have come from Trump and his followers since the famous “Lock Her Up” convention have been frightening, destructive, and non-stop. Dan Robinson summed it up succinctly in his comments, but I’ll add a few….. Dr. Fauci and his wife get frequent death threats and must be provided with body guards. Did you forget the kidnapping plot against Governor Whitmere? The smear campaign against Ambassador Marie Ya…. you know who I mean. A local incident that did not get national attention occurred very shortly after the 2016 election at Mt. Airy Diner “The Trolley Stop”. A minor altercation between a Black waitress and a MAGA hat wearing customer resulted in death threats to the diner owner and real estate developer Ken Weinstein and his family. And I’m sure I don’t have to remind you of the journalists that have been threatened. Trump and his constant threats of “investigating” his enemies have been unrelenting. They are still on Hillary Clinton’s emails. And you call this article “Balanced” because you casually acknowledge the threats against the poll workers!? I basically agree with the opinions of the Dems you quoted, though not exactly the way they expressed Unlike Trump and his cronies, we are not calling for people to be “Locked Up” or, worse, killed. If you have consistently LIED in your current job, if you have caused HARM to innocent people, if you have refused to share important information that might affect the outcome of an election, an investigation or the impeachment hearing, you lack integrity, are not deserving of government job or any job of significant responsibility.
I have consistently criticized many on the Right, especially Trump, here and on Facebook.
I DO pay more attention to the Left. Why? I expect better of them. THEY establish new “norms” of “better behavior,” then fail to meet them. And here I focus on ACTUALLY thought leaders of the Left, not aberrant solo knuckle draggers, which you point to.
And you have been here long enough to know my credo: OBEY THE LAW.
I point to “solo knuckle draggers” because they have been , encouraged by Trump [example: “Liberate Michigan” ]…..and/or ignored by Trump’s political enablers. Furthermore, Trump’s “enemies” lists are well known and have not been challenged by his enablers….” Pompeo defends Trump push to release Hillary Clinton emails weeks before election
Trump has criticized his top diplomat, but it’s unclear what emails are left.
ByConor Finnegan
October 14, 2020, 6:11 PM”…………. And of course William Barr’s willingness to “investigate the investigators” of the “Russia Hoax”…. No enemy list there. Thanks at least for “admitting” that you do hold “the Left” to a higher standard. That’s what bothered me the most.
Naomi, the #1 thing I have to offer is a truthful opinion.
There is one other reason and I am harder on my “own,” Democrats. How many journalists in this town will hold Dems accountable for their bad deeds?
LOTS criticize Republicans, my voice is not needed there.
What amazes me, Stu, is that all of this vile language doesn’t get one “shoulder shrug” from Twitter. Why is that (rhetorical, of course!)? And let’s not forget Robert Reich running around all over the place calling for a “Truth & Reconciliation Commission.” That sounds extremely disconcerting to me…kinda like, “don’t get mad…just get even!”
~RP
It is not so very “vile” and the threats are indirect, but we KNOW Twitter is in tool box of the Left and young. I did a column on it a while back (which I can’t reach while answering you).
Yeah, Stu, I read that earlier article! 😉 Social media has indeed become a cesspool and I scroll right past much more of that garbage than I used to. **SIGH** ~RP
Philadelphia, PA
Dear Stu,
I agree with this morning’s Inquirer editorial:
“Pa. Republicans’ unfounded allegations of election fraud contribute to a menacing environment”
Here’s their conclusion:
Any actual single instance of voter irregularity or fraud should be investigated. But these are extremely rare and have nothing to do with the overall election result, determined by hundreds of thousands of votes across multiple states. The presidential election is over, and Republicans need to take some responsibility for this menacing environment before threats become violence — against people who operate this democracy or the institutions it is built on.
–End quotation
See:
https://fusion.inquirer.com/opinion/editorials/pennsylvania-election-results-biden-trump-lawsuit-republicans-death-threats-20201110.html
Obviously, as you show in your article, our puritanical left has got to get used to the facts on the ground regarding what country they actually live in, and the meaning of Jefferson’s “government by consent of the governed,” and Lincoln’s “government of the people by the people and for the people.”
Perhaps they will recall, along with Biden’s victory, that the Republicans stand to hold the U.S. Senate, that they elected 6 Governors, gained 6 seats in the House, and, as I recall, lost no legislative body across the entire country? Biden won the popular vote along with the electoral college, and he took in more votes than any prior presidential candidate. But Mr. Trump is second in that listing.
There is a lot of mistrust in this country of the liberal-left establishment. They need to address the genuine public discontent which Mr. Trump rode. I recall that Mr. Biden recently stated that “human dignity” in the American context implies good opportunities for employment.
H.G. Callaway
I recently quoted Andrew Yang as saying his parry is doing something wrong when it turns off the working class.
Some speculate the “defund the police” idiocy turned many decent Americans against the party. I agree, plus other cliche positions.
How about this for starters :
1) For the past 60 or so years, just about every political hack drank from the same well.
2) Both sides forget where they came from and who they serve.
3) Actually, there are good people with good ideas on both sides of the aisle.
4) The democrats have been talking trash for four years.
5) Let us hope that we, as Americans, can start the healing process. Sooner the better.
Tony