Flying the Coup
In the past few days, there have been calls from centrists and pundits for unity between Democrats and Republicans. That’s all well and good in the abstract — not only would it’d be a pragmatic move for the Biden/Harris team to work with (or at least, attempt to work with) the Mitt Romneys of the party, it would gain them hosannas from Americans who genuinely (and rightfully) want bipartisanship to be the buzzword in 2021 and beyond.
But you can only work with people who are interested in cooperation and compromise, believe in magnanimity, and who are willing to be gracious and conciliatory in defeat. And none of these qualities are possessed by Trump and his supporters. Turn on Fox or OAN, or listen to the likes of Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham, and you’ll see a faux-grievance campaign that’s equal parts laughable and contemptible. When they’re not outright alleging (without hard evidence, natch) that the election was stolen, they’re propagating ridiculous conspiracy theories and specious arguments so asinine that you have to wonder what planet they teleported from.
Even after all the votes have finally been counted, and all the frivolous lawsuits are dismissed, and the election results are officially certified, there will no satisfying a significant number of Trump supporters that the election was on the up-and-up, because it assuages their egos to believe the election was “stolen” rather than admit defeat. They’ll continue to whinge and wail for all four years of the Biden presidency — and some, it must be said, will be motivated to take more drastic actions. Trump has encouraged, and will continue to encourage, this bad behavior from his supporters, but this time he won’t have the cover of the presidency to protect him or its bully pulpit to amplify his anti-democratic views.
Frankly, I have zero interest in “reaching out” to the people who mocked and dismissed the cruelty and criminality of this “president”; who cheered for him as he aired his petty grievances and actively worked to corrode our institutions; who gloated for the past several months or more about their guy winning a second term, only to become disingenuously offended when the tables were turned.
Or to put it more succinctly: fuck them and the diseased, broken-down elephant they rode in on.
