AMERICAN EXTREMISM

Posted on: May 20th, 2020  / Written by: Brett Lunger

 

Twenty-five years ago, Timothy McVeigh detonated a truck bomb outside the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. His goal was to stimulate a law enforcement response which he hoped would spark an anti-government revolution.

At the time McVeigh earned almost universal condemnation for his horrific act. He was arrested, tried and put to death for his crime.

Today there is a titanic battle brewing in Washington. Trump vs The Resistance (#Resistance). Who wins?

These are two intractable forces. For one, petulant ego dominates. For the other, “gotcha politics” and media manipulation rule. One reacts viciously to any slight, real or imagined. The other will accept nothing short of Trump’s removal from office. “Good of the country?” Definitely not considered by either. Not even for a fleeting moment.

Could one side prevail? Would there be consequences?

If Donald Trump were to gain a second term, The Resistance would not go away. Nothing would be off the table. They would double down and tie the President’s hands with unending litigation, investigation, and condemnation. “Good of the country?” Definitely not. Not even for a fleeting moment.

But what would happen if The Resistance were to succeed? What if the forces aligned against Donald Trump were able to remove him from his position as president or to deny him a second term?

Yes , for those never able to accept Hillary Clinton’s defeat in the 2016 election, there would be joy unbounded …... vindication at last!

But what about the others, the Trump supporters, the deplorable s who unexpectedly put Donald Trump in the White House? What if they believed that Congressional obstruction and media bias were to make a second term impossible? For them Donald Trump was the man that they had so desperately sought, the man who had given meaning to their lives.

Be afraid. Be very afraid. The ghost of Timothy McVeigh dances among-st us. There are some, perhaps many, who have become so disillusioned by Washington that they would see the McVeigh solution as the only way to achieve justice. Blood in the streets. Their rally cry, “Enough is enough. We deserve better. Take back our country or die.”

Who wins? Nobody. Who loses? We, the people. Enough is enough. We deserve better.

See my essay “How Could This Happen?”

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