Facts Don’t Matter
I suspect I’m pointing out the obvious, but I need to say it anyway. There is nothing easier to do in politics then to “create” a problem, and then be “the only one” who can fix it. I spent last Sunday morning listening to the news “shows”. I found that “He is the Only One” is the single most “important” Republican talking point.
Republican Congressmen Elise Stefanik of New York (Meet the Press) and Tony Gonzalez, Texas (This Week) didn’t outright claim that the 2020 election was stolen, though Stefanik came close. But there underlying theme was this:
A significant percentage of Americans belief that the 2020 election was stolen. It is important to investigate, and make changes to assure those Americans that the next election will not be. In order to do that, Americans must choose the Republican candidate for President. Because re-electing President Biden is rewarding stealing the election. At least, that’s the belief of the significant percentage.
Both of the interviewers, Kristen Welker and George Stephanopoulos, pushed back hard. They both pointed out the self-serving, circular logic of the response. Over sixty court cases, two internal Trump campaign investigations, Department of Justice inquiries, hearings in front of state legislatures, and even the “Cyber-Ninjas” were unable to find evidence of the “steal”. In fact, the “words” of the former President and his cronies are the only “evidence” presented.
Facts don’t seem to matter. The whole justification for delegitimizing the Biden Presidency and electing Trump for a second term, is that this “significant percentage” belief it. That becomes the “cause of action” – the reason to vote Republican.
Held Hostage
And then there’s the January 6th “Hostages” (Stefanik, not Gonzalez). The Republican Party would have the United States deny what happened before their own eyes. We all watched on that fateful day three years ago. There was nothing peaceful about the violence on the Capitol steps that day, nothing “legitimate” about defecating in the hallways and vandalizing the offices. But, according to the Congressman from New York, those rioters were “patriots”, exercising their First Amendment freedom of speech to defend democracy.
Well, the last part has a kernel of truth. Many of those insurrectionists believed the lies they were told. And since they believed it, then they were acting in “good faith” according to the politicians that fed them the lies, and they aren’t responsible. Any court that holds them accountable is just another part of the “stolen” election, and the convicted are in fact “hostages”. At least, that’s what a “significant percentage” of Americans believe.
Flies Aren’t Wrong
(Using the term “hostages” for the Insurrectionists so soon after October 7th, is inappropriate and disgusting. But it’s just one more way to legitimize Trump’s actions).
I’m tempted to return to my own childhood warnings : “…if Johnny jumps off of the Empire State Building would you jump off of the Empire State Building?” Or the more graphic phrase, “Eat garbage, a million flies can’t be wrong”. We built Our Nation on individual responsibility. We have a national obligation to use our own minds to determine what is right or wrong, and to take personal responsibility for our actions.
When I taught American Government, my most important goal was to get students to think on their own, to analyze and determine for themselves what they believe. I not indoctrinate my students in my own liberal ideology, but I worked to have them develop their own. All I asked is that they could support those ideas with facts – the absolute counter to the “significant percentage” argument.
Fools and Foolishness
Stefanik is a graduate of Harvard. Gonzalez has a master’s degree and is working on his doctorate in international studies. From an academic standpoint, these are not “stupid” people, and can’t possibly be fooled by the “significant percentage” argument. But it allows them to deny the facts, and stand for the false premise of victimhood. That “feeds the fire” of the “significant percentage”, adding falsehoods without exactly lying. And so they continue to make the argument, to justify the Republican Party’s complete sellout to Trump.
At this point it’s reasonable to use the words of Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican President: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”
But quoting Lincoln to Republicans is now a dangerous thing. As the twice-impeached, ninety-one time indicted former President Trump now says: “Lincoln was wrong. We should have compromised on slavery, and negotiated to avoid the Civil War. I would have done it.” And the former Governor of South Carolina, running for President against Trump, doesn’t even think slavery was an issue in the Civil War.
A “significant percentage” are fooled, and perhaps will remain fooled for all time. But Trump needs to fool even more; enough to earn the slim margin of electoral votes for re-election. And, if he can re-write the history of the Civil War, then getting us to ignore our “lying” eyes on January 6th shouldn’t be that big a deal.
At least, for a “significant percentage” of Americans.
