It’s a detail of which I’ve been aware for some time, but driven home as I read Liz Cheney’s Oath and Honor: Donald Trump had been told repeatedly, by multiple people in his own orbit, that he had no basis for disputing the outcome of the 2020 election. He lost to Joe Biden fair and square, by a lot, and yet… here we are almost four years later, and the bastard will not go away.
He’s doubling down on the double-down, still whining, still angry, still stirring up trouble, still wasting everyone’s time and sapping us of energy, all because he will not let go of Stop the Steal. Though by now, one might see this merely as a convenient excuse for holding onto power.
It’s one thing to have political differences but working through them, or simply being ok with not prevailing all the time. It’s an entirely separate issue to have to put up with someone who needs to win all the time, who doesn’t care about the country and has no use for civil discourse and doesn’t even know what that is.
I’m still not convinced this is simply about Trump. Trump is the pliable front man—impressionable, weak, immature, devoid of character, apparently charismatic somehow. The equally real culprits are Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller, Michael Flynn, Vladimir Putin, the rogue’s gallery at Fox “News” and Newsmax and OAN, and the rest of the bloggers and radio talking heads. Along with the millions who have adopted this poisonous mindset and are awaiting word to tear the country apart.
What is their gripe? What is the source of their pain? And what is their vision for America, besides blowing it up? Trump and the rest have nothing to offer but the promise of resolved “grievance.”
Nothing. No plan, other than revenge and destruction, yet they’ve got millions of people feeding from their hands.
3 Cents' 