Resistance Is Necessary

Last night, the Supreme Court of Colorado decided that: a) Donald Trump engaged in an insurrection and b) the 14th Amendment says that insurrectionists can’t run for office and c) Donald Trump can’t be put on the ballot in Colorado (this part was stayed legally until Trump’s team can make a legal challenge).

Shortly after that, Trump’s rivals were asked to weigh in. Instead of agreeing with the court and taking the win to put them in contention for their party’s nomination, they said, almost to a person, that they don’t want to win this way, that the court was wrong, and they’re against the ruling.

Here’s the problem with that logic. He’s ahead and no one cares what you say because he’s so loud. Haley, Christie, DeSantis, and that Indian-American fascist guy (whose name I won’t say, because he already has enough attention) — whether they have a good case or not — can’t make their case if no one cares. With Trump out of contention, their voices and the policies behind them can be heard. No debate needs to make reference to Trump. He’s not the elephant in the room with this decision. He doesn’t matter anymore. If you actually have ideas, here’s your chance. Make your case.

In the meantime, let me try to explain your behavior:

1) You’re so used to worrying about Trump’s base of angry, stupid, or crazy people that you don’t want to rock the boat. If they can’t vote for him, they don’t matter. They either have to vote for you or vote for no one. Those are their choices. Oh, well.

2) You’re thinking too hard. You’re thinking like lawyers, and bad lawyers at that. For the last six years, we have seen a country ruled be unscrupulous lawyers and a litigious system that no one except the very rich could even imagine. “Delay, Delay, Delay” only works if you can afford the lawyers. Trump can afford the lawyers — even if he doesn’t pay them. Bill Barr’s use of a DOJ rule that no one ever heard of can only be gotten by Trump, because Barr was clever. We have lived for too long thinking that clever mattered more than right. That’s Trump’s game. He likes to play it. The entire country has been trying to figure out his next move, but it always comes back to this: We think too much and while we’re thinking too much, he does what is wrong.

I’m not an athlete, but I hear all the time “don’t try to play their game. Make them play your game”. Trump can’t, won’t, or doesn’t care to, play by the rules of the Constitution. Too bad. That’s his problem, not yours.

Remember those “elite” college deans who just got embarrassed by Congress for apparent anti-semitism? They, too, were stuck in a type of legalese for their thought. They’re bright people. They should have known better. The question being asked of them wasn’t “How smart are you?”. The question was “How moral you are?” They simply couldn’t adjust to another way of thinking fast enough in public to answer the real question being asked. The woman from UPenn who did resign, oddly, answered the right question when she had time to think about it.

The question for the Trump presidency has never been, “how clever are your lawyers?”. It has always been “how decent, how trustworthy, how moral are your lawyers?”. That question has never been answered by his administration. That is the question you — and all leaders — now have to answer. Can we trust you? Will you do right by us? Can you not hurt us or condemn us to death because you want power or money?

The 14th Amendment is powerful in its moral clarity and simplicity. If you have tried to hurt the institutions of democracy, you shouldn’t get another chance at it. If you support others who want to hurt the country or democracy, you shouldn’t get another chance at it. The 14th Amendment simply says, “NO”. There is no fight, no argument, no cleverness to it. As my mother used to say, “What part of “no” don’t you understand?”. That’s the question that nobody’s ever asked Donald Trump, and it’s the question that you have the right to ask him, on behalf of all of us — left, right, and center.

Think about it, Republican candidates. Think with your heart this time. Answer the questions Americans really want an answer to. Then ask that question of Trump. Thinking like him — with no heart — will kill us all. Please, take the win!

Biden is a — whether the press will say it or not — a very moral man. The idea of having to choose between two moral candidates would make a great race, and would make every one of us a lot safer, and a lot saner, as well.

Resisting with Peace,

John