A House Divided Against Itself, Cannot Stand
–Abraham Lincoln, 1858, referring to divisions over slavery in America
With the news this morning that pipe bombs were sent to former President Obama’s residence, Hillary Clinton’s house, and the offices of CNN, among others, the question we must ask is: What has become of our Republic?
Pipe bombs were also sent to the home of billionaire and liberal donor George Soros, Democratic Congressional Representative Maxine Waters, and Obama’s former Attorney General Eric Holder.
As shocking as these acts are, they should come as no surprise to anyone. The heated political rhetoric that has divided this country since President Trump took office has finally come to a head.
We all know that Trump routinely denigrates African-Americans, immigrants, Muslims, the LGBTQ community, and many other vulnerable groups and minorities. Which is despicable in its own right.
But in recent months the President has taken a more virulent turn in his language, declaring the media “an enemy of the people” at his rallies and calling Maxine Waters “an extraordinary low IQ person, menacingly saying “be careful what you wish for” after she called for supporters to disrupt members of Trump’s Cabinet when they are in public.
The President also joked about and praised Republican Congressman Greg Gianforte after he body-slammed a reporter whose question he didn’t like. Trump called the Congressman “a great guy” and a “tough cookie.”
With this level of heated rhetoric coming from the most powerful person in the world, it isn’t shocking that some misguided individual or individuals would take the president’s words to heart and target progressive and liberal Democrats and the media with pipe bombs.
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It would be easy to say that the president is completely responsible for all the fire and fury currently consuming America. And there’s no question that he is indeed the largest and most prominent perpetrator of hate in our country.
But the rhetoric on the Left has become increasingly toxic as well. Maxine Waters’ call to disrupt members of Trump’s Cabinet in public has been taken to heart by many Democratic supporters.
Just the other day, I watched on CNN as a young Democratic activists began yelling at Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell while he attempted to enjoy a meal with friends at a restaurant in Kentucky.
The activists ultimately forced McConnell to leave the restaurant with his companions, trailed by screaming young people who yelled “you don’t care about working people!” “Traitor!” and “why don’t you get out of here?” One man even took McConnell’s to-go bag and poured it out on the floor.
Similar scenes have played out across the nation in recent weeks. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was confronted at a Washington DC restaurant by protestors calling themselves the DC Metro Socialists of America.
The activists screamed at Nielson, who a day earlier had defended the separation of migrant children from their families at the US-Mexico border. “If kids don’t eat in peace, you don’t eat in peace!” they yelled. “Abolish ICE! Abolish ICE!” and “Shame Shame!”
Nielsen left the restaurant with her companion, made her way to a waiting car, and quickly left the area.
Now let’s be clear. I’m no fan of either Mitch McConnell or Secretary Nielsen, not by a longshot. I believe the policies they advocate for and enact are unethical, unjust, and downright wrong.
But what does it say about this particular moment in our nation’s history when they aren’t even allowed to eat in peace? It says that civility has been thrown out the window, and along with today’s pipe bombs, it means we are living in a house divided.
I’m not comparing pipe bombs to being harassed and forced to leave a restaurant. But they both speak to the anger, the vitriol, the hatred, that conservatives and liberals feel toward each other.
This cannot go on. We must remain civil towards each other, despite our political divisions. The owner of the Mexican restaurant where Secretary Nielsen was dining may have put it best. After the incident, the restaurant put out a statement that said:
MXDC “graciously serves all guests who walk through our doors, regardless of their political standing.” Many of the restaurant’s employees are Hispanic, and the statement continued that “We believe that a restaurant is a place to nourish the spirit of humanity, not to break it down.
Amen.
Let’s be clear. America has been plagued by outbursts of violence against political leaders for decades, including the shooting of President Ronald Reagan in 1981, the assassination of both Attorney General Bobby Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King in 1968, and many other incidents.
But this feels… different. The 60’s were a time of massive civil and political unrest, with the civil rights movement in full swing and US engagement in the Vietnam War being protested by millions of people.
But those battles have already been fought, and civil rights is the law of the land, despite the president and his allies’ attempts to roll them back.
As for war, Vietnam consumed America, and the draft brought it home to ordinary Americans, whose sons were being sent to die in a far-off land for an unknown and opaque cause.
Today we have the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but they have ramped down, and more importantly they’re not routinely on our living rooms TV’s or in our national consciousness.
Even then, though, political leaders didn’t routinely denigrate the other side using the incendiary rhetoric that President Trump has deployed, and that the counter protestors have now begun to deploy as well.
To wit, President Nixon hated the Washington Post and its criticism of him, but he never publicly declared the paper — or the media — the enemy of the people. That would have been a bridge too far, even for the venal and tyrannical Nixon.
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So where do we go from here? I personally hold President Trump largely accountable for the charged political moment we face. But his opponents are now beginning to adopt his thuggish tactics, and before you know it we may be in an out-and-out civil war.
There are signs of hope though. President Trump spoke to the media today at the White House after the attacks, and he unequivocally stated that the pipe bombs were “despicable.” He also stated that:
We have to unify. We have to come together. Acts or threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the United States of America.
This egregious conduct is abhorrent to everything we hold dear. We’re extremely angry, upset, unhappy about what we witnessed this morning and we will get to the bottom of it.
The assembled media — who have battled the President and his authoritarianism and disdain for the media for two years now — all stood up and cheered. They gave the president a ten second ovation for what seemed like the first decent, presidential thing he’s said since taking office.
So is there really hope that Trump will make a change, tone down his rhetoric, and try to bring the country together? Only time will tell. I’m personally not very optimistic. But his forceful condemnation of the attacks today is a good start.
The next indicator of the president’s future behavior will come tonight, when he appears at a campaign rally in Wisconsin.
Will the president truly tone down the rhetoric and try to unify the country, as he said he wants to do today?
We shall see.
One thing is unmistakably true. As Lincoln stated over 150 years ago:
A House Divided, Cannot Stand
It’s time to unify our house, find commonalities among us all as Americans, and show kindness and civility toward each other despite our political differences.
Because we all know that Lincoln’s America remained divided, and this division ultimately led to the American Civil War, which remains the deadliest conflict in American history. The dividing issue then was slavery. The issues today are dignity, justice, and respect for each other and human rights.
Let’s hope the American house unifies, and neighbor comes to respect neighbor, before it’s too late.
Because the alternative is just too horrific to contemplate.
Lord knows we don’t need another American Civil War.
One was enough.
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