A Convenient Case of Political Amnesia ｜ 10⧸23⧸25
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
167.92987
Summary
With former President Donald Trump now facing criminal charges, the left has quickly rediscovered their love for judicial restraint. But what happens when one side has already transgressed political norms and stepped squarely off the playing field? What happens to that argument if one of your opponents has already done the same?
Transcript
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Earlier this week on MSNBC, host Joe Scarborough gave a familiar speech about the dangers of
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Donald Trump wielding government power against his political opponents.
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With figures like Letitia James, James Comey, and John Bolton finally facing charges, the
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left has quickly rediscovered their love for judicial restraint.
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Scarborough delivered his tirade with nods of approval from other journalists as he warned
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that Trump and his administration officials would face a similar set of politically motivated
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The obvious problem being that the Democrats already brought those charges against Trump
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The left is attempting to engage in political amnesia in hopes of selling a program of political
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de-escalation which they have no intention of taking part in.
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The classic argument about the centralization or use of power in American politics is that
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it should be avoided because eventually it will be turned on you when your party is out
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The case is simple and persuasive, but it comes with some assumptions built in.
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The argument is based on the idea that the lines have not already been crossed, that both
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sides are still squarely playing on a field of objective political order.
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Neither party wants to step off the field to gain a momentary advantage because the cost
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of their opponents adopting the same strategy would be too great.
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But what happens to that argument if one side has already clearly transgressed those rules
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It becomes far more difficult to convince your opponent to avoid using a strategy that
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For a long time, liberals were able to contain conservatives, and frankly conservative leaders
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were able to contain the larger right wing by preaching about the dangers of political
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Republicans were, at least in theory, the party of small government.
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They feared the accumulation or exercise of power in almost every area, and the prosecution
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This is why most conservatives stood awestruck as they watched the very people who had told
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them for decades that no political prosecution should ever take place arrest protesters, administration
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One of the reasons that warnings against political escalation are so effective is that the spiral
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Once one side has violated the norms, the other side must reciprocate or invite further abuse
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But just like a real fight, once blows and counterblows have been thrown, it's very difficult to call
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Both sides recognize that once violence has been deployed, one party must win by taking violence
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It's very difficult to reestablish an equilibrium and restore order, which is why it's best
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to never enter into the spiral in the first place.
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Democrats have their justifications, of course.
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Trump is a once-in-a-generation threat, a proto-dictator who embodies all the worst impulses of middle
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When faced with that kind of threat, the system must make an example of this dangerous fascist,
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or his brand of politics will become normalized.
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At some level, the left knew it was opening Pandora's box by prosecuting a former president
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But they were so desperate to punish their foes that Democrats simply convinced themselves
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Now that the shoe is on the other foot, they have no real argument to stand on.
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Progressives recognize at some level that they've painted themselves into a rhetorical corner,
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Democrats are predictably upset, but they've already deployed every one of these legal
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strategies that they're now complaining about against their own political opponents.
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Now they're forced to deploy some kind of strange version of political amnesia, pretending
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that the last eight years just never took place.
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The president was never convicted on a pile of manufactured charges.
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Administration officials were never put under arrest.
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Meme makers and protesters were never incarcerated.
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Be careful about jailing your political opponents because they might jail you.
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Rings a little hollow when your political opponents have already put you in prison.
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In truth, the gamble the Democrats took was relatively safe.
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Republican politicians are spineless cowards as a rule.
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Despite regular violations of political norms by the left, they're rarely if ever held
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Yes, the nakedly political prosecutions against Trump were an unprecedented escalation, but Democrats
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were sure that the imbalance dynamic would hold.
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What they didn't consider is that Trump's not a typical GOP politician.
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The billionaire holds a grudge, and he doesn't like to lose.
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If you give him an opportunity to settle the score, he will.
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It's now clear that even in this moment where the political pendulum has swung decisively to
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the other side, the Democrats have learned nothing.
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Politicians and pundits on the left consider every action taken against Trump and his staff
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The warnings against political retribution ring hollow, but empty words are all the progressives
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And now all they can really do is make insincere appeals to procedural normalcy and hope that
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In truth, the real battle for the left has moved from the realm of politics to the realm
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Having lost the last election against a man that you sold as the next Hitler, Democrats
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Where do you go after calling your opponents Nazis who plan to enslave women and murder minorities?
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How do you communicate an escalation in urgency when you've already turned your
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This is why the left has settled on violence as their political weapon of choice.
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If you declare Trump Hitler and the country votes for Hitler, how can you continue to embrace
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And that's why the left has now embraced terrorism instead.
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