Acknowledging the malice of some precedes charity for all
Opinion by E.J. Dionne Jr.
I never liked the phrase “the new normal,” which became popular after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It was a too-easy, high drama cliche, but worse than that, it implied that we would become accustomed to terrorism as a way of life. That was and always will be unacceptable.
And this is why the impeachment trial of former president Donald Trump that begins on Tuesday is so important. It’s also why last week’s House vote to strip Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) of her committee assignments — with, it should never be forgotten, 11 Republican votes — sent an invaluable message.
Although we can welcome President Biden’s desire to look forward rather than backward, our nation, and the Republican Party in particular, have not fully come to terms with what the violent attack on our Capitol and the effort to overturn the result of a free election mean for our democracy. Trumpism and its close cousins in Greene-ism, QAnonism, white supremacy and violent extremism cannot become “the new normal” in our politics.
We have “moved on” far too quickly. All 147 Republicans who, against all the evidence, cast at least one vote to reject legitimate election returns should be called upon to recant the falsehoods on which their votes were based. A formal resolution affirming Biden’s legitimacy is in order.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) treats advocates of “a bullet to the head” of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as just another wing of the Republican Party. Yes, the GOP includes supply-siders, social conservatives, foreign policy hawks and now would-be assassins who believe that Jewish lasers start forest fires. Talk about broadening the base!
McCarthy isn’t even a competent opportunist. He condemned QAnon last summer when it seemed politically convenient to do so, but turned around last week and said: “I don’t even know what it is.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/acknowledging-the-malice-of-some-precedes-charity-toward-all/2021/02/05/fe117b3a-67fe-11eb-886d-5264d4ceb46d_story.html
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