3 thoughts about the violence in Minnesota
God help us.
These are troubled, troubling times. I am not sure I have the wisdom to meet them. All I can do is slow down and try not to make the flame burn hotter.
In the spirit of caution, then, I offer three thoughts about horrifying violence against Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota:
I am grateful that President Trump said more or less the right things about the violence:
But also: I remember Jan. 6. I remember his pardon of the insurrectionists. And I remember that just a few weeks ago he was talking about pardoning the men convicted of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Political violence has always been with us. But I cannot think of another president in my lifetime who has seemingly enabled it again and again. Would the Minnesota violence have happened without Trump’s influence? I genuinely don’t know: We don’t have all the facts yet, and even without the person of Trump there is still a large conservative movement that has talked for years about “the blood of tyrants” being a good thing. Maybe we get here without him. But he has not helped.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski — a Republican, but also a Trump critic — came under fire a few weeks back for saying “we are all afraid” of retaliation in the current political era.
“It’s quite a statement,” she continued after a long pause, in remarks first reported by the Anchorage Daily News. “We’re in a time and place where — I don’t know, I certainly have not — I have not been here before. And I’ll tell you, I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice because retaliation is real. And that’s not right. But that’s what you’ve asked me to do and so I’m going to use my voice to the best of my ability.”
Quite a few left-of-center folks responded with “if you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen”-style commentary. But I think fear is actually a healthy response to what we are seeing. These are fearful times! It doesn’t mean we don’t do the work. It does mean we do it clear-eyed, with the knowledge that there might be consequences. Terrible consequences, even.
I hope and pray that this is not the beginning of civil war in America. But I don’t actually know. I am fearful of even saying such a thing out loud, lest I somehow help manifest it. How many assassinations and attempted assassinations can we live with before it reaches a critical mass? I take my comfort from all the Americans protesting peacefully for “No Kings Day” today.
I am, as ever, trying to be a “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” guy. Now, more than ever. It is an idea that is most needed with it is most difficult to accomplish.
God help us all.
At least it rained on Trump’s damn parade. Literally.
I skimmed Trump's initial comment. I laughed at mention of Pam Bondi and noticed he didn't explicitly mention Patel as FBI head. But I'll give him credit for at least once saying something that we automatically would have expected any other President to say. At the same time it's sad to realize there'll be a lot of comments expressing the need to praise him for doing that. In some way that's probably one of the most damning indictments of how he'll be seen by most Americans some day. My second reaction was to wonder how incendiary he'll get over the weekend. I, at least, have no hope it won't be downhill from here. Then I wondered how long before the "False Flag!" crap starts, no doubt aided by Elon on Twitter/X. The right-wing extremists will have to do that because of the high probability of copy-cats. Then I thought about how we're not even 6 months in. I did remember to be thankful for the grocery stores giving away eggs for free and the millions of wonderful factory jobs soon to be created by the tariffs. I think I'll now go look for my Valium drip! :-)