In 1861, many areas of the North were sympathetic to the cause of slavery and southern independence. If that seems astonishing now, the reason seems entirely too easy to understand in 2018: Pro-slavery forces had long conducted a campaign warning northern workers that if slavery ended, millions of black former slaves would move to their area and compete with them for their jobs. That 19th century version of “economic anxiety” was enough to lead to pro-South rallies in several northern cities, and even to riots when the US government suggested the idea of imposing a draft to raise an army.
For a long moment, it seemed that the South might just … slip away. That, even though the Northern states had every advantage of numbers and economic might, they could not just lose the conflict, but surrender before it even began. Because of racism. Because many Americans were willing to ignore any injustice, even slavery, rather than face up to the consequences of equality. The closest the South came to carrying the day wasn’t after some moment of “strategic genius” or through some example of battlefield bravado. It was before the fight began.
That all changed with Sumter. In a moment, the South opened fire … and shot themselves.
Racism didn’t disappear from the North. But it became, for the moment at least, subsumed to a greater cause as all across the nation people turned to a greater threat. For at least a little while, they packed away other concerns.
Ulysses S. Grant: There are but two parties now, traitors and patriots. And I want hereafter to be ranked with the latter and, I trust, the stronger party.
In 1861, many people didn’t even realize that that they believed in the Union … until it was threatened. And there’s absolutely no doubt that many northern soldiers turned up for muster just as laden with racism as they had been the day before. Many of them were concerned about what winning the fight might bring. But they were terrified by what it would mean to lose.
In 2018, Donald Trump stood on a stage next to the leader of a hostile foreign power and meekly acquiesced to his every demand, It was a moment that didn’t just confirm every fear built up since Trump entered the race for the White House, it compounded them. It showed definitively that the stakes are greater which party hangs its sign higher or even who gets to name judges to the court.
Once again, there are only two parties. And the time for choosing sides will very soon be over.
It’s not as if seeing Trump pout on stage, throwing not just his accusers but the whole nation under the bus to defend himself, was the first shot fired in this contest. To get to this point, Republicans have had to ignore sexual assault, lies of every size and variety, abundant evidence of collusion and conspiracy, and the obvious, daily lesson that Trump assigns no value to anything but himself.
Still … they were willing to go along. It got them their billionaire tax cut. It got them their conservative judges on not just the Supreme Court but federal courts at all levels. It got them a gutted EPA and a defense budget with more pork than Oscar Meyer. And hey, for plenty of Republicans, white nationalist authoritarian government isn’t something they swallowed to get the rest. It was their goal all along. But maybe … just maybe … they didn’t bargain on this. Didn’t bargain on Donald Trump demonstrating, on stage and before the world, that he was subservient to a foreign dictator.
Our system of government doesn’t include the kind of “vote of no confidence” that is present in many parliamentary systems. There’s no way to call for immediate elections and not just flush the White House clean of Donald Trump, but Mike Pence, John Kelly, and the whole conspiratorial stinking lot. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing that can be done until 2020. Or even until November.
While our system doesn’t allow for a change of government, it does allow for a change of heart. All it would take to stop much of the damage that Trump is doing and signal a sea-change in Washington would be for two Republican senators to walk across the aisle and take a seat with Democrats.
Just two people could both write their names in the history books, halt Trump’s nominees, and help stop the slide of the nation until November can come and provide still more relief. Just two weeks ago, seven Republican senators made a trip to Moscow. Are there none brave enough to make a trip to sanity?
Call your senator today and ask them on which side they want to be ranked: Traitors or Patriots. There is no other choice.