[There are already calls for "forgiveness" and "healing" and "reaching out" now that Joe Biden is elected.
I understand the impulse behind these statements, but they are FUNDAMENTALLY immoral
The best version of the argument is something like this:
America is a divided country, and pursuing the politics of division will only exacerbate the existing split. It is necessary to model a more inclusive politics that celebrates differences.
The assumption is that SOMEONE needs to lower their weapon, and it might as well be the party that campaigned on tolerance. By demonstrating this better way, conservatives will give up their resentment of the left, and return to focusing on shared values rather than partisanship
One problem with this argument is that it is plainly wrong. America ALREADY TRIED THIS. A Democratic president with a legislative supermajority tried to demonstrate magnanimity. The Republicans REJECTED it, demonized it, and used the opportunity to DEEPEN the partisan divide.
That isn't the part that makes it IMMORAL. That is just what makes it EVIDENTLY STUPID as a strategy for national harmony. It didn't work pre-Trump, there's no substantive difference that would make it work post-Trump.
We have lots and lots of evidence that the conservative movement broadly, and the Republican party specifically, WILL NOT give up politics of division because it's literally the only tool they have left.
Here's what makes it immoral.
Trumpism is the belief that all behaviour is permissible if nobody can stop you. "If you're a celebrity, they let you do it". It is a credo that justifies ANYTHING. We have seen its results.
Trumpism is Republicanism now. They are the same. What GOP electeds have learned is that shame, integrity, principle, and sacrifice for the greater good are not rules that MUST be followed to get elected; they are rather the albatross worn around the necks of weak and gullible suckers.
Trumpism responds ONLY to power.
If those with power refuse to exercise it in the pursuit of justice, they are REAFFIRMING the central tenet of Trumpism: that grace and mercy are for suckers and that actions have no consequences outside of perception.
Trump and his enablers and allies have committed ATROCITIES in their pursuit of power. They have not paid a price for it, at least not in the only currency they value, which is power. There is ZERO incentive right now for them to change.
The party of Trump persists. 70 million voters are a testament to the fact that a huge swath of America simply does not care about any consequence besides winning and losing.
They are unrepentant about the atrocities they voted for, to the point where they voted for MORE.
You will not change Trumpism by showing it a kinder path. You will change Trumpism by demonstrating that it DOESN'T WORK, and that BAD THINGS HAPPEN when you pursue it. And if you show, instead, that none of it matters, you embolden it.
That is immoral.
The purpose should not be RETRIBUTION. The purpose should be JUSTICE. And justice means consequences for causing harm, restoration of those who have BEEN harmed. Blowing past that so we can "move on" is INJUSTICE.
Forgiving those who show no remorse is INJUSTICE.
So no, granting "mercy" to those who have committed atrocities, who tried to steal their way to power, and who inflamed hatred for narrow personal gain is NOT a path to a kinder and more just world. It is the exact opposite.
Power must be used for justice. It is long past time.]
