The Time for Optics is Over

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

In modern America, politics is often thought of as the art of subtlety. It’s seen as civilized and polite, conjuring images of smiling politicians kissing babies and helping little old ladies cross the road. 

That’s the idealized concept we have of what American politics is supposed to be like. That’s what most Americans today long for the country to “return to.”

Whether that was ever truly the reality in the United States is up for debate. But one thing is clear: That is not the world we live in now. In fact, that simplified, syruppy image does not even reflect the reality of politics in most places throughout history — including those that had republican systems of government.

Go back to Athenian democracy. To the Roman Republic, the days of Sulla and Pompey and Caesar. Go back to the republics of Italy — Genoa, Florence, and others. What you’ll find is that their history was one long record of power struggles marked by political persecution of opponents, arrest, exiles, assassinations, executions, riots, and war.

Conflict. Struggle. This has been the rule, not the exception, in politics. American patriots must understand this and let go of the expectation that our politics today is going to be the exception. Because the Left holds no illusions about that. They are living in reality and playing for keeps. If we do not meet them as forcefully as they are coming after us, we can expect only defeat — a calamity that will bring violence, tyranny, and impoverishment upon our children.

In short, perhaps there was a brief time when the rose-colored picture of friendly, small-town politics was real. If it was, then it made sense then to follow the art of subtlety. To not be too extreme. To put on the bow tie and try to appeal to the sensibilities of suburban soccer moms who are averse to shouting and fire-and-brimstone political speeches.

However, that ship has sailed. We are now in a very different place in America, and in Western civilization in general. Two events this week made that clear.

The first was the case of a Middle Eastern refugee who went on a knife attack at a park in France, stabbing several babies in strollers. 

For so long, we were told that we had to be politically correct; that we had to be sensitive to not incite xenophobia or other kinds of phobias in critiquing mass migration. But if the end result of being inclusive is that infants are being stabbed in broad daylight at a park, we will have none of it. The people — on both sides of the Atlantic — are tired of playing along. We must speak out, without fear of offending, lest we and our children become complete victims to merciless thugs who want us dead.

The second event of significance was the unsealing on Friday of the indictment against former President Donald Trump, which revealed 37 counts of alleged crimes, along with 31 separate counts of alleged willful retention of national defense information under the Espionage Act.

Politico notes:

If Trump is ultimately tried and convicted on the 37 counts, he faces a potentially lengthy prison term. Each count of willful retention of records carries a maximum 10-year sentence, while the six obstruction charges each carry a 20-year maximum sentence. False statements charges each carry a five-year maximum.

The indictment is Trump’s second in the past three months. He also faces a 34-count indictment in New York for allegedly falsifying business records in connection with hush money payments to a porn star to prevent her from alleging an affair in the final weeks of the 2016 election. And two more criminal probes could result in further charges: a second probe by [Merrick Garland-appointed federal prosecutor Jack] Smith of Trump’s bid to subvert the 2020 election and an investigation by Atlanta-area district attorney Fani Willis, also about Trump’s election gambit.

The indictment lists 31 specific documents Trump is accused of intentionally withholding from federal officials after they requested the return of all national security records: 21 of the documents are described as Top Secret, nine as secret and one as lacking any classification marking but involving “military contingency planning of the United States.”

Here’s the point:

Anyone who is not a diehard Democrat loyalist can see this is the weaponization of the legal system by Democrats to destroy their political rival, Donald Trump. This is a serious predicament for the 45th president. He could very well spend the rest of his life in prison.

If there is any last inkling of willingness on the part of the political Right to still “play nice,” that must go out the window. If Republicans do not take swift action to demonstrate they are capable of dishing out as the Democrats do, then they might as well hand over the keys to the entire Republic to the Democrats.

The solution is simple, if Republicans have the courage to follow through: Fight fire with fire. In Congress, impeach Biden immediately. In the states and federal courts, indict him and his family members. Make it clear that if Democrats want to destroy Trump, then Republicans will do the same to Biden — putting the entire family behind bars for the rest of their lives.