In the wake of the Capitol Hill riot there has been plenty of the obvious platitudes thrown around by all sides and the predictable calls for unity. But is unity what everyone really wants? Because, to an objective observer, it seems like exactly the opposite, that everyone is simply paying lip service to “unification” while actually taking actions to promote “division”. And let’s be clear for a moment about the definition for unification. Unification in the sense used here is when two opposing sides find common ground and work together to get things done.
First, it is difficult for any objective observer to view Democratic actions over the last four years as promoting anything but division. The liberal “Resist” movement was founded on January 19th, 2017, the day before Trump was inaugurated as President of the United States. Basically, the sole and specific goal of the “Resist” movement was to obstruct any and all of Trump’s policy objectives.
Now, granted; on the whole, the Resist movement was a complete and abject failure. Trump pushed through nearly all of his policy objectives during his four year term as President. This includes his goal of building a border wall. After all, over 450 miles of the border wall are built with another 200+ miles currently under construction. Trump also successfully reshaped the federal judiciary, appointing a jaw dropping three Supreme Court justices and 220 federal, lifetime appointed judges overall. Trump also created the first new United States military branch since 1947, Space Force. Trump succeeded in passing major tax cuts and reform as well as the first major criminal justice reform in long, long time with the First Step Act. Then there is Trump’s successful war on terror in defeating the ISIS caliphate and killing Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In addition, Trump was successful in mustering the government and private sector companies to create a COVID-19 vaccine within months, something everyone predicted would take years. And the economy, despite the hardships brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, by many measures is still doing quite well. For example, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is nearly 31 million, versus just shy of 20 million when Trump took office. Furthermore, Trump made major foreign policy strides with new trade agreements between Canada and Mexico, reframed U.S. Chinese relations, moved the United States Israeli embassy to Jerusalem and brokered numerous middle east peace agreements. Finally, Trump was also extremely successful in slashing over $16 billion in federal regulations, another core policy objective.
Regardless of the failure of the Resist movement, however, the movement still existed (exists). There is little question that Democrats in Congress and elsewhere did everything in their power to spread division and obstruct. This divisiveness and obstructionism only increased once Democrats took control of the House of Representatives. To an objective observer, these actions do not seem like the actions of individuals interested in true unification but rather division. This is perhaps most evident in the Democratic efforts to obstruct Covid-19 relief efforts, which could perhaps be characterized as purposefully damaging the U.S. economy and hurting Americans solely for political gain. Furthermore, calls from these same individuals now for “unity” really come across as “Now that we are in power you need to shut-up and fall in line or else”. That’s not the kind of unification we here at The Objective Observer are talking about though. Sure, in a dictatorship, everyone is “unified” in fear but that’s not “unification”.
This penchant for division continues to this day with the second impeachment of Trump. As more and more information comes out about the events of that day, such as John Sullivan, a liberal activist, inciting violence at the Capitol; the extreme rush towards impeachment, without witnesses or testimony, comes across to an objective observer as purely political and divisive. Quite the opposite of the lip service paid towards “unity”.
On the opposite side, Republicans do not seem all that interested in true unification either. The recent, continuing complaints against the election of Biden are perhaps all the evidence required. And, to an objective observer, it is hard not to think that there is an element of payback here. To an objective observer it strikes one as Trump exacting revenge for the bold and unprecedented attempts by Democrats to delegitimize Trump’s presidency through the Russia Collusion Hoax and a half-baked attempt at impeachment over a phone call with another world leader. Regardless of the truth, many Americans will similarly never accept Biden as a legitimate president and cling to what is sure to become known as the Election Collusion Hoax. OK, we just made that up. But regardless, tit for tat as it were.
At the end of the day, it seems like it is this revenge narrative that will likely take center stage despite the calls for “unity”. After all, 75 million American’s voted for Trump for president, a staggering number. It is quite likely that these 75 million Americans were paying attention to the extreme lengths the Democrats went in order to intentionally; and possibly criminally depending on the outcome of the Durham report, delegitimize, vilify and obstruct a legitimately elected sitting President of the United States. Hence, it is almost just as certain that these 75 million Americans are going to accept and return in kind this precedent set by Democrats with regards to how to treat a legitimately elected President of the United States that you do not agree with.
If Republicans turn to the same tactics used by Democrats for the last four years, can anyone really blame them or claim the moral high ground? Likely not. More alarmingly for Republican lawmakers, there is the likely possibility of revolt within the party if Republican lawmakers are seen as cooperating with Democrats. With near certainty, those Republicans seen as cooperating with Democrats will be viewed as out and out traitors within the party to the vast majority of those 75 million Trump voters. After all, Trump still maintains a 60% approval rating among Republicans. Those voters likely want revenge for the last four years of what they might understandably view as mistreatment of their President. So, unification? Not likely.
We could know soon enough regarding how Republicans handle the second impeachment of Trump. If the Republicans mimic the Democratic Resist movement, then they could legitimately decide not to do anything with regards to legislation until Nancy Pelosi hands the impeachment papers over to the Senate. They could then legitimately refuse to take up any legislation until the impeachment trial is completed. Further, Republicans could then drag the impeachment trial out for as long as possible. The impeachment of Andrew Johnson took 92 days from start to finish. It is likely that Republicans, if they were so inclined, could easily reach this mark or exceed it, meaning that Biden’s first 100 days, or more, in office would be effectively neutered. Then and only then would the subject of cabinet positions come up, which Republicans could then seek to delay and thwart. Biden could possibly spend the first year of his presidency accomplishing absolutely nothing at all other than getting his cabinet in place.
In the end, we will simply have to wait and see if everyone truly wants unification or continues to sow and spread division. We likely will not have to wait long.
The Objective Observer 