It’s really quite simple. There is now a single issue that defines our political era: Does a politician support enforcing the rule of law in the protection of democracy, or not?
Democrats must not be conciliatory toward violent extremists who stormed the U.S. Capitol in Trump’s coup attempt. They must insist on arrests and prosecutions. They must also insist that Donald Trump himself face criminal prosecution for inciting insurrection against the United States of America.
If the Biden Justice Department does this, they will earn the support of the American people. If they instead choose to allow sedition to go unpunished, they will lose the respect of people of conscience throughout our country, and Democrats will undoubtedly face crushing losses at the ballot box in 2022 and 2024.
I understand that many Democrats who attain political power are inclined to be nice and gentle. That is part of the Democratic brand in the 21st century. I think they take that too far, but like many decent people, I generally prefer nice politicians over ones who are assholes.
But there are limits to niceness as political policy. I would argue the limit is when laws are being broken by the other side. At that point, you have to get tough. That’s especially the case when the lawbreaking is something extremely serious like insurrection against the U.S. government.
Lines must be drawn. Boundaries must be set. Sedition, insurrection, and treason — whatever word we choose to use for what has happened — is clearly over the line. It cannot be ignored. It won’t just go away if Democrats decide to “look forward” and “move on” when Trump leaves office. Instead, the criminals will feel emboldened, their heinous conduct will be normalized, and in future election cycles they might do even worse.
I’m drawing a line in my own political allegiance. In this precarious time for America, when the future of our democracy hangs in the balance, I will be supporting whichever politicians take the toughest line against treason and domestic terrorism.
I have been more impressed with former Republican and newly minted Democrat Steve Schmidt of the Lincoln Project than many of the establishment Democrats who don’t seem to understand that confronting evil head-on is the only way to defeat it. I hope that a new Democratic movement for the rule of law will emerge with moral clarity and the guts to take the actions necessary to save our country from a rising fascism.
For me, arrests are the litmus test. And I suspect I’m not alone. Democratic politicians take note.