Not Ready to Make Nice
In 2003, the band formerly known as The Dixie Chicks (now just The Chicks), was the largest female group in music history. They were HUGE. They were the country-femme-Beatles. Sold out tours, record sales through the roof. And then it all stopped. Their music was banned from country stations, their concerts were protested, and they received a deluge of death threats. Their crime? At a concert abroad lead singer Natalie Maines, goddess, had the temerity to say she was ashamed that President Bush came from their home state of Texas.
That’s it.
This caused an uproar throughout the white grievance/redneck culture not seen again until a black man became president. It was one thing to criticize the president, the thinking at the time went, but to do it on FOREIGN SOIL was the absolute worst thing a person could do. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think it was a big deal. I still don’t. He’d lied our country into two wars, the repercussions of which we are still reeling from today, and was in general thought to be one of our worst presidents in history. LOL how little we knew of how bad a president could be. Trump really has set a new standard for utter incompetence.
The backlash was swift, severe, and derailed a massively successful musical operation. People gathered to burn records, CDs, and posters. One has to wonder how much the fact that it was an outspoken female who criticized the president played into it. Lots of other people spoke out against Bush. But the hate The Chicks received was vitriolic. It caused significant distress the to band, which they later addressed in a song that shares the same title as this post.
For the past two weeks, I’ve heard a lot of rhetoric about how Joe Biden must now “unite” the country and begin the healing. He said it himself at his speech the night he won the election. And yes, MAGA folks, he did win. He won by so much it’s historical. He won by so much it’s indisputable. And yet tens of millions of my fellow Americans do not believe in the results. This is due partly to their own ignorance as to how elections work. It is also due to the Republican party’s refusal to acknowledge reality and allow the country to move forward. Instead, they hold up meaningless stacks of paper (a ploy they’ve used before to deceive their followers) and file frivolous lawsuits that have no hope of being heard, let alone won.
This isn’t Florida in 2000. That election was decided by 500 votes. This isn’t that. Biden is tens of thousands of votes ahead of Trump. A recount isn’t going to help. And yet, in spite of there being ZERO evidence of fraud or anything of the sort, we’re asked to allow this farce to play out. Biden is being denied basic necessities that would enable his transition team to hit the ground running. This is actively hurting our country as a whole.
This weekend alone, there were several instances of violence as white supremacists and other “deplorables” marched in Washington to show their support for Dear Leader. They called it the MILLION MAGA MARCH even though only a few thousand actually showed up. They marched with signs threatening black people. In the past, vendors sold confederate flags alongside Nazi ones adorned with swastikas.
The “Kyle” they want to “break out” is accused serial murderer Kyle Rittenhouse, a misguided violent teenager who, aside from sucker-punching a girl, also shot three people, murdering two of them at a protest in Wisconsin. So that’s… something. The MAGA Marchers also brought some old-fashioned bigotry to their little gathering as well.
These are the people we’re supposed to be playing nice with and listening to? The people who chanted “Jews will not replace us” and carried signs that said, “fuck your feelings”? The people who chanted to lock up just about perceived “enemy” of Trump from Hilary Clinton to Ilhan Omar to Gretchen Whitmer, who was actually the target of a kidnap and murder plot?
Honestly, I could write a hundred more paragraphs about all the awful stuff Trump supporters have either done or condoned. You know it all by now. Racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and bigotry abound in this administration and it permeates throughout his supporters.
And these are the people I’m being lectured to “listen to” and learn from? No thanks. I’m good with the MAGA crowd.
Funny, every time Democrats get into power, we’re told that it’s up to us to unite the country and reach out to every single voter. And yet I have never seen the same kind of responsibility thrust upon Republicans when they get into office. For them, it’s “we have a mandate from the people” and they do everything in their power to enact their agenda, no matter how craven or hypocritical. Could this be because it is a known and accepted fact that while liberals tend to be more inclusive, conservatives are incapable of seeing anything other than what they agree with? It’s like asking a duck to play baseball. Sure, he’d look cute in his little uniform but no one would suggest it in earnest.
This is the same with the MAGA folks. We know what they are. They tell us every chance they get. At rallies, spreading COVID to each other. At marches with torches. Every little perceived grievance is an outrage that must be stood against using violence and intimidation. That’s why they bring their big boy guns with them when they gather.
And listen, this street runs both ways. MAGA folks ain’t interested in making nice either. Quite the opposite. Here’s a quote from the linked article:
Like Mr. Biden and his supporters, the Smiths saw this election as a battle for the country’s soul. To unify with Mr. Biden would be an admission that the battle is lost, and that the multicultural tide powering his victory will continue its ascension.
“Everything I worked for, Biden wants to give to the immigrants to help them live, when they don’t do nothing but sit on their butts,” Mr. Smith said.
“And if those protesters come here, if they go tearing up stuff, I guarantee you they won’t be in this town very long,” he added. “We’ll string them up and send them out of here — and it won’t be the same way they came in.”
Now, obviously, none of that is true. There is no plan to give immigrants a bunch of stuff so they can sit around on their butts. But note the immediate turn to lynching and violence. This is an American heritage as deeply ingrained as apple pie. Black and brown people have been “strung up” throughout the centuries at the hands of whites. It isn’t an accident that he used this terminology. Trump supporters show up to marches and protests because they want to kill liberals who oppose them. That’s the only reason to bring a gun. Killing is all it does.
This is the photo the NY Times used of the Smiths who gave the tough guy/violent fantasy quote above. Not sure if it was a coincidence but he’s literally sitting on his butt. Photo: Tamir Kalifa
And now that the MAGA goons have lost, and in spite of them refusing to accept the results of the election, we’re supposed to be nice and kind and sympathetic to them?
Nope. Not gonna happen. Not for me.
I agree with the people who say we should keep a list of all the Trump enablers in government and make sure we drum them out of society as much as we can. The damage this administration and his supporters have wrought will last a generation. If I could brand them all across the forehead I would. Partially because: screw them. You made your bed. Lie in it. But also because I don’t think the majority of the MAGA folks understand the gravity of the situation. White privilege has hidden much of the repercussions from otherwise well-intentioned people. A hot iron across the head might wake them up.
As I write this, I’m about 50/50 if there’s going to be another Civil War. I’ve had a few serious discussions with friends about what our mutual patriotism would demand should Trump refuse to leave office or if there were to ever be an actual violent uprising. I don’t take it lightly. In 1930, Germany was a liberal democracy. Within four years Hitler had taken over the government. It can happen and when it does it happens fast.
But Matt, you’re saying, isn’t your “screw the other side” rhetoric just enflaming these divisions? There is some truth to that. But for the entirety of my lifetime, liberals have had to be the adults in the room, the ones who turn the other cheek and concede their principles in order to make peace. I’m done with that. I want to rule and enact policies as viciously and without regard to norms as the GOP has. At least with our policies, people's lives will get better! They’ll have healthcare. They’ll have green energy. They’ll have clean air. They’ll be able to educate themselves without going bankrupt. It’s time for liberals to stop thinking that being the adult means pandering to the worst impulses of a child to keep the peace. We need to grab them by their spoiled little ears and drag them into the 21st century. We won this election and it’s time to be bold and enact some real change.
I believe in progressive, liberal policies. I think they will make us all better in the short and long term. I’m done with compromise. I’m done with bringing flowers to a gunfight.
I’m not ready to make nice.