America’s intolerance of political criticism is real - and no one can speak to that with more authority than myself.
“Trump wants jail for J6 committee: Justice or a Joke?” was the title of a blog I wrote yesterday. In order to best explain the absurd nature of President-Elect Donald Trump calling for jail time for all of the J6 committee members, it was imperative for me to do a quick summary of the events of January 6 and the final findings of the J6 committee. The committee found Trump to be the only U.S. president to attempt to overturn the rightful outcome of a free and fair election, but the recommendation to refer Trump to prosecutors was rendered insignificant following the conservative Supreme Court’s decision that sitting presidents are essentially immune from prosecution for their actions while in office.
One listener called into my talk show with an angry attitude from the outset, explaining how I was wrong about everything because Trump said the word “peaceful” during his rally speech that preceded the obviously not peaceful attack on the U.S. Capitol Building. Yes, Trump used the word “peaceful” at one point, but that word was one small part of an angry call-to-action that resonated with a crowd that included many individuals who were prepared for a physical attack on the Capitol. Without going into a step-by-step account of the caller’s points that the participants in the riot were just enjoying a nice tour of the building that day and that they were led in by police, I’ll sum it up by saying she simply regurgitated the right-wing rhetoric that January 6 was solely the fault of Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats. I asked the caller where she was when the attack on the Capitol happened and following a noticeable hesitation, she said she was at home. My point in getting her to admit that her only source of information for that day was watching it at home was that it is possible that her acute bias blinded her from recognizing what really happened.
A few calls and texts into the show disagreed with her account, and the disagreements came from Trump voters. Then another call came in from a whacked out conspiracy theorist who was arguing that Antifa and progressive liberals were involved in the attack. I was quick to remind him that many of those currently serving time in prison admitted that they interpreted Trump’s words as a call-to-action to physically attack the Capitol and stop the democratic process. He continued to ramble about his ridiculous theories that exonerated Trump and all Trump supporters. As I do on a regular basis - I distinguish between right-wing radicals and mainstream Republicans and conservatives and the calls and texts from Trump supporters who shared my opinions about Jan 6 proved my point.
The only reason I talked about January 6th was because Trump was out over the weekend calling for all of the members of the J6 committee to be put in jail with zero grounds for any criminal case against any of them. The anger that breached the relative calm after the recent election was a clear indication that there are still many individuals who want to attack the other side. They can’t seem to let their outrageous defense of Trump and all of his supporters who were the rioters trying to stop the democratic process go and even after their candidate won they persist in waging political war.
Why is it so important for some Americans to continue this fight and show no sign of any desire to come together as a nation?
I also talked about the bashing of musician John Legend for his appearance on ESPN’s “ManningCast,” during Monday Night Football. I have never watched that version of coverage of MNF so I admitted I was confused as to why John Legend drew such an immediate negative reaction from people watching. A listener to the show called to explain that it was probably because John Legend was anti-Trump during the campaign.
The Monday night game was between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Dallas Cowboys. John Legend is from Springfield, Ohio, which is 11.2 miles from Cincinnati by car. Legend is a big Bengals fan, so his participation in the convo about the game was warranted. Celebrity guests are part of ManningCast.
X (formerly Twitter) had comments from viewers of “ManningCast” that bashed Legend’s appearance on the show: “Legend the worst guest manningcast has ever had.” “Not interested at all seeing John Legend on #ManningCast.” “John Legend on the ManningCast?!! GTFOH with that a**hole. Will be going back to the regular ESPN broadcast until that clown is gone.”
And then it occurred to me - people seemed to be hating on John Legend because he was anti-Trump during the campaign. The harsh comments reflected emotions deeper than how one might feel if they simply did not like John Legend’s music. The social media bashings were more congruent with the emotions people have about politics, in particular, Donald Trump.
So if you expressed your opinions about a political candidate during an election season in America, and those opinions were different from the opinions of others, then you are judged for that and nothing else. Let’s be specific. If you expressed negative opinions about Donald Trump, you are judged by many Trump supporters, only by how you feel about Trump. Whatever else you do in life is insignificant. You could cure cancer, but if you expressed negative views of Trump, then MAGA thinks you’re trash.
Correct me if I’m wrong - but hasn’t every election been essentially between two candidates, and that Americans have never totally agreed on one candidate?
It’s truly amazing how many Trump supporters judge a person only by their opinion of Trump. The election is over - Trump won - and yet, the harsh criticism of anyone who had a negative opinion of Trump supersedes any aspects of another American’s accomplishments or attributes.
