A scary portrayal
The hundreds of texts in late 2020 and early 2021 between Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and various elected officials, political hacks and Trump family members reveal various ruminations, plans and plots on how to overturn the election and keep Donald Trump in the presidency, despite his big election loss.
Many of these texts are scary. They include covert and overt plans to overturn our democracy and move our country toward autocracy. Many in the press and political worlds have made a big deal about these conspiracies against our elective process, and rightly so. That stuff is downright dangerous to our republic.
Something that has not been a focus of the media and elected officials is the portrayal in the texts of the other side by the Trump supporters. That depiction, to my mind, is nearly as frightening.
Folks such as Congress members Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jim Jordan, in their texts, portray Joe Biden and other Democrats as enemies of America and picture the battle against Biden and other “liberals” as a holy war against people who are against both God and our country.
This is what Greene wrote in one text to Meadows:
“In our private chat with only Members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall [sic] law. I just wanted you to tell him. They stole this election. We all know. They will destroy our country next. Please tell him to declassify as much as possible so we can go after Biden and anyone else!”
Ginni Thomas, right-wing activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (a separate issue indeed), wrote in a text to Meadows: “Make a plan. Release the Kraken and save us from the left taking America down.”
At one point Meadows responded to Thomas: “This is a fight of good versus evil. Evil always looks like the victor until the King of Kings triumphs.”
There are countless similar texts to Meadows from those wanting Trump’s forces to overturn the election, many similarly depicting the opposition as the ungodly mass looking to despoil our country.
As a Democrat often described as a liberal, I would like to know who these Democrats and liberals are who want to destroy the nation. I personally love my country and all it stands for. Most liberals/Democrats I know feel the same way. I’m particularly proud of how our nation is standing up for democracy in Ukraine right now.
Do I and others like me think our country could be better in some ways? Of course. We could do better in helping the poor and elderly, assisting the physically and mentally ill. We should continue to work to rid our society of racism and of discrimination against folks because of their religious beliefs, or lack thereof. This latest national book-banning crusade appears to be the kickoff for another right-wing campaign against the arts, and that concerns me and many others greatly.
Do some on the left want to go too far, want too much? Hey, I work on a university campus, with people so woke they object to being called woke anymore. So the answer to that is a firm, “Hell yes!” But those folks are not in the majority of the Democratic Party or the political left.
Unlike Greene, Jordan and fellow Congress members such as Lauren Bobert, Matt Gaetz and Louie Gomert, and Ginni Thomas, most liberals, including those on the far left, don’t think those on the other political side are evil and ungodly. Many hardcore right-wingers, in fact, are our friends and family members.
We do believe they’re on the wrong side of most political issues.
We don’t, however, think they’re they are enemies of our nation, or devils out to destroy our country.
Bret Kofford teaches writing and film classes at San Diego State University-Imperial Valley. His opinions don’t necessarily reflect those of SDSU or its employees. Kofford can be reached at Kofford@roadrunner.com