My Take: Is there actually any hope for us?
I find myself appalled by America’s political landscape today. During and after Trump's seditious presidency, the Republican Party has become a limitless pit of disgrace, hell bent on worshiping at the feet of a thin-skinned narcissistic sociopath, no matter the cost to the greater nation.
The latest revelations could not make any of this clearer. On the eve of Jan. 6, as the nation reeled in horror in what took place that fateful day, the Republican leadership was ready to cut ties with Trump. McConnell, McCarthy, Cruz, Graham and many more were done. They could see their party vanishing before their eyes, destroyed by their president. Within days there were discussions about the 25th Amendment and/or telling Trump he needed to resign, otherwise the impeachment would likely pass.
If you were a member of QAnon, the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, the Three Percenters, or just some other lunatic that bought into Trump's big lie, you didn’t have to wait long for the Republican leaderships outrage to dissolve. Instead, the Republicans turned tail, afraid of Trump and his band of sycophants. The Republicans decided to trample on the Constitution. Any glimmer of integrity, morality or honor that might of remained in the Grand Ole Party evaporated. Leadership that America desperately needed vanished. Why? Cowardice and the desire for power.
In today’s Grand Ole Party, you can plot a coup when elections don’t go your way. You can openly attempt to destroy democracy as we know it. You can rub shoulders with white supremacy groups and heap praise upon Hitler's evil twin, Putin.
Albeit the pandemic or the Republican-backed coup, neither was enough to get our heads out of our collective derrières. Both have only resulted in widening our dangerous divide. We have learned to strip any differences from fact and fiction, truth and crazy are now on equal par. Roughly speaking, 35 percent of our beloved nation has gone full on, “one who flew over the cuckoo's nest” over Trump, the election he clearly lost, and the damage that has been done to America’s democracy. We have revealed to ourselves that if lies are told enough, a minority of us are dangerously ignorant. State run propaganda by Putin is having the identical effect on the Russian people today, yet we don’t see the parallels.
To the people who make up this 35 percent today: Shame on each of you. You have openly trampled on the American flag, its ideals, and all it has ever stood for. Why? So you could trade it all in for a red hat.
I don’t mince my words. You are too oblivious to see how dangerously deep you have fallen into this deranged rabbit hole. You are unaware you have become locked into a narcissistic symbiosis and shared psychosis with the ex-president.
I know by now my words have you fuming. Spare me your vitriol for Biden and the Democrats. My disdain for politicians regardless of party has been one equalizer for decades, but not today. The height of my loathing toward the Republican Party is well earned. They had ample opportunities to stop Trump along the way. Instead, they chose party over nation. Led by Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, and countless others, the Grand Ole Party has blood on its hands. Blood from the innocent police officers killed and future blood, because in my opinion it will only get worse. Why? Just look at the up-and-coming Republicans. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, and the other MAGA morons trying to get elected.
What is equally abysmal, is the state of today’s Democratic Party. If your message, your ideals, your candidates, and your leadership are so feeble that you cannot run the table against crazy, what does that say about your party? America needs leadership yet your party is so feckless, where does that leave America? Its appalling you cannot rally the nation, none of you it seems can actually lead.
My fears? Crazies will win or not win and play the “big lie” card. We are an idiot or a small group of idiots away from more violence. The vacuum created by real American leadership will only continue to deepen the divide in our nation, tearing at the very fabric that once made us a great nation.
— Todd Leva is a resident of Zeeland. He can be contacted at toddleva@att.net.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: My Take: Is there actually any hope for us?
